


Remedy

by CPuff



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Emotional Manipulation, Fluff, Grillby's Restaurant (Undertale), Hurt/Comfort, I will add more tags and characters as I go, M/M, Manipulation, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Mutual dumbassery, Pre-Canon, can you date and pine at the same time?, is it pining if you're already kinda sorta dating even tho you're not calling it dating?, pre-game, sansby - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2019-05-26
Packaged: 2019-07-15 18:20:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16068695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CPuff/pseuds/CPuff
Summary: Grillby and Sans had slowly been getting closer, and despite still being in the flustered early stages of what could be dating, Sans can still tell when Grillby is not feeling well. When the possibility arises that Grillby may be more than just tired, Sans sets off down into the deeper caverns of the Underground to find what he's been told will cure the fire monster.





	1. The Leak

**Author's Note:**

> I've slowly been trying very hard to get back into this writing thing. Without forcing myself to "only" write stories with a hundred thousand words. This idea was concocted between me and a friend and she encouraged me to turn it into a proper fic rather than just a 5 sentence "hey what if".
> 
> The fic is Sansby which is hilarious to me considering it's not a ship I'm naturally drawn to. However, I've had some excellent fanfics kinda sway my opinion on it. And I wanted to write this based on the dynamics I've been reading elsewhere.
> 
> Also, I'm a bitch for good old-fashioned Hurt/comfort so look forward to that in later chapters! As well as lots of fretting and FEELINGS.

Grillby was jolted awake violently by a drop of water hitting his face.

He sat upright with a strangled gasp, looking around wildly to face whatever threat had barged into his room. However, nothing was out of place, and apart from the frenzied crackle of his flames pluming, it was quiet. He sat with a light frown for a moment until another drop sizzled against him. The cold pinprick caused him to vault out of bed with a string of meaningless curses. He barely managed to not trip over himself as he spun to face his bed.

It took several minutes of him standing and breathing heavily before he to noticed the slow drip of water. Snapping his head upwards, he could see it dripping from a pretty large wet patch on the ceiling. Finally confident he was not in any danger, Grillby let out a long breath and ran a hand through the flames on his head before fumbling with his bedside alarm and checking the time.

It would only be a few very short hours before he needed to get up and make himself presentable for the day, before getting the restaurant downstairs in order. A crackle of annoyance ran over him as he turned to regard his bed which was slowly growing a wet patch of its own. Icy cold water dripping directly on him meant trying to grab the last opportunity for a full night's sleep was impossible. However it was also far too early to get ready for the morning rush. Grumbling in resignation, Grillby grabbed a water-tight jacket he kept on a hook against one of the walls and headed for the square panel that lead to the roof-space.

The leak wasn't very hard to find. Grillby hadn't bothered with a flashlight, giving off more than enough light just by himself. But even without his natural ambiance, the crack in the flat ceiling was obvious. It was about the length of his palm, and he could easily see the snow from outside slowly melting into the crack. Grillby's home was permanently remained several degrees warmer inside thanks to his presence. A quick inspection as to how the roof was damaged revealed some leaves, twigs, and other frozen plant-matter, although their source was nowhere to be found. It seemed at some point in the night, a tree branch or something must have managed to crack the tar sealant somehow.

It was a bad explanation and even as he thought of it, Grillby wasn't satisfied with the guess. However, there wasn't too much he could do about it right that second. The damage wasn't big enough to be a concern beyond the current leak, and it didn't appear anything else had been broken or affected. Satisfied that his house wasn't in need of any immediate damage control, Grillby climbed back down to his living quarters and focused instead on getting his bed away from the water.

Grillby's, unlike most buildings in Snowdin, had been built out of brick, using wood mostly for flooring. It meant the walls were thicker than those of his neighbours, most of whom had a decent number of trees between them and the restaurant. Grillby was grateful for this as his bed screeched noisily at being dragged it out of range of the leak. A cast iron pot was hauled from his personal kitchen to catch the water in lieu of a bucket, and he stripped his matress of the few sheets he slept on. He spent a few short minutes getting a fire going in his living area and only other personal room in the house, a counter separating it from the kitchen. He spread the sheets out across an armchair and a few chairs dragged from the kitchen counter to dry in the warmth of the fireplace.

By the time he had everything relatively under control, there wasn't enough time to really start anything else. So despite it still being far too early, he set about getting ready for the day's service.

 

* * *

 

The day turned out to be a busy one.

  
This wasn't that uncommon, but it didn't help Grillby's energy levels. He had worked on little or no sleep before, but it was never the greatest experience to have, and a full day of rowdy, excitable dogs, inebriated rabbits, gossiping regulars, and date seeking loners were not making things easier. When Bonnie from the store came in asking for a take away order for her considerably large family, Grillby had to fight the urge to simply tell her 'no'.

As closing time inched closer, Grillby was about ready to drop hints for the last remaining customers to call it a night, when the front door jingled and the enthusiastic greeting from the few people left over announced that Sans had dropped in for the evening.

A very small part of Grillby seemed almost irritated at the arrival of 'another customer' that he needed to attend to, but he very quickly squelched this thought, chiding himself internally for feeling anything but happiness at the skeleton who had recently become one of his favourite people. Luckily, any flicker of annoyance at Sans' arrival was completely masked by his fire as Sans took up his regular seat at the bar and swung the stool to face him.

“evening, g,” Sans said with a lazy grin which perked slightly at the corners. “sorry to crash in late. busy day.”

Grillby merely gave a nod at this, moving to get Sans' usual drink without prompting. “ _Indeed.”_

“it'd probably have been more chill if i didn't have to dodge undyne checking in on me the whole day,” Sans continued, leaning forward onto the bartop as he deflated. “i dunno if she's got some kinda performance evaluation coming up or what, but she's really been cracking down on people actually _working_ today.”

Grillby chuckled at this despite himself as he slid the drink over, “ _Isn't sentry duty just remaining at your post? ...Would seem like more effort to avoid Undyne than doing your job.”_

“you'd think, but undyne's always got this way of being weirdly passionate about her job. which is fine,” Sans spread his palms in a placating gesture, “can't really complain about that. but she's got this thing where she wants _you_ to be passionate about her job too.” His grin broadened as he slumped back down. “'s probably why she and paps get along now that i think about it.”

Grillby listened dutifully to the events of the day for a while before he rounded the bar to collect the discarded glasses. Sans swiveled to watch him. The busywork of collecting glasses and wiping down tables seemed to be the cue the last couple of customers needed, as calls for bills and the exchange of gold was quickly done, followed by the door jingling at their exit. Grillby went about closing duties almost on autopilot as his thoughts finally had time to unwind. He turned the sign over to 'closed' before tugging down shutters and organising chairs.

Sans was still seated at the bar but made no motion to leave. Things had long ago fallen into a routine where, regardless if the restaurant was technically open or not, Sans would wander inside and make himself at home. 'Making himself at home' usually consisted of him lounging around in whatever room Grillby was currently in, making bad jokes to make the fire monster laugh, or if he was really lucky, ignite brightly in a blush. Sometimes it involved Sans finding whatever looked like a comfortable spot and falling asleep, leaving Grillby to debate on whether to wake him up and send him home or just drape a blanket over him. It had more and more started to become the latter, as Grillby found himself reluctant to ask the skeleton to leave. Regardless, the sign that marked the restaurant as 'closed' had long ago stopped holding any kind of meaning when it came to Sans.

And so Grillby paid little to no attention to Sans' continued presence as he put chairs on tables and carried dirty dishes to the kitchen and wash up area through the fire exit. He was so caught up in how thankful he was that the white noise of customers was finally gone that he didn't register how quiet Sans was being. It wasn't until Grillby had moved to take Sans' empty glass from him and the skeleton gripped his sleeve that Grillby's attention was dragged back to the present.

He lifted his gaze to meet the other's and was surprised to see his friend's eyelights searching his expression, an unsure smile on his face.

“you er... doin' ok there, grillbz? ya look a little _burnt-out._ ”

Grillby rolled his eyes, tilting his head for emphasis. It was a pun he'd heard so often he was starting to suspect Sans purposefully used it these days just to get a reaction out of him. Of course, the eyeroll did nothing to deter Sans whose smile recovered slightly at the response.

He shrugged. “seriously though. you do kinda look like you're erm... burning low, i guess?”

Grillby hummed at this, turning to regard the exposed sliver of wrist between his shirt and glove. His colouring was a little deeper than its natural bright amber, leaning more to, for lack of a better name, burnt orange.

Sans waited patiently for a response, watching Grillby's expression as he tried to read the notoriously poker-faced bartender. Grillby wasn't quiet long, eyes perking into an unseen smile.

“ _...Am alright. Merely a little worn out from a very long day.”_ He thought for a moment to mention the roof as further explanation but felt too tired to go into needless detail, so merely settled for adding; “ _...Slept rather badly.”_

This seemed to satisfy Sans who nodded and propped his chin on a hand. “aw, sucks buddy. ya know you could've just closed up shop for the day, right?” His eye sockets narrowed every so slightly as his grin widened. “ya _do_ know that, right? maybe take a singular day off in your life? you do know people _do_ take time off, right? like, that's a _concept_ that exists.”

Grillby couldn't stop the snerk that escaped him at the accusation, quickly muffling it with a hand despite it being far too late. Sans gave a small bark of a laugh. “what was _that_ noise?!”

Grillby didn't answer but threw a dishcloth at him which Sans dodged easily.

“ _And you would be the expert on taking time off, I believe.”_ He said with a smirk.

“hey now, that's not nice to accuse people of,” Sans said without an ounce of sincerity. “i'm a very hard worker, you know!”

“ _You were just telling me about avoiding Undyne the entire day!”_ Grillby insisted, moving to pick up the tossed rag.

“yeah and it's a _lot_ harder to ditch undyne than you'd think!” Sans retorted. “let alone _stay_ ditched. the woman's got a better tracking nose than any of the other guards combined. makes you wonder why she even needs 'em!”

Grillby shook his head with another chuckle as he collected Sans' glass again, moving to the fire exit. Sans hopped off his bar stool and followed after him.

“but in all seriousness, g, no good's ever come from working too hard. seeing you burnin' low is proof enough of that.”

“ _Overreacting.”_ Grillby waved him off as he entered the restaurant kitchen and went about cleaning the last of the day' dishes.

Sans leaned against the wall by the entrance, watching him thoughtfully, his hands stuffed in his pockets. “maybe. but... y'know...”

Grillby turned back to him at the trailed off sentence and was met with Sans adjusting his weight and suddenly avoiding Grillby's gaze.

“it's just that...” Sans waved a hand in a vague circle as he tried to piece his sentence together before giving up and just saying it straightforward. “i like seeing you bright and vibrant and not... _not_ that.”

Grillby couldn't fight his quiet laugh at the endearing display, causing his colours to brighten and stray embers to scatter from him very briefly. The reaction in turn causing a dusting of blue on Sans' face.

“ _All right, all right,”_ Grillby said, turning back to burning his dishes clean. “ _I will get some rest tonight and if I still have difficulties, I will consider opening up for lunch tomorrow rather than breakfast.”_

Sans cocked a brow at him, not entirely sure he believed him. Frankly, Grillby wasn't sure he believed himself either. However, a thought occurred to him regarding the roof. Taking the time to repair it was a bigger priority than serving the breakfast rush, unless he wanted his bedroom at actual risk. He nodded, mostly to himself.

Sans gave a sigh but eased back into a more natural expression. “ok, grillbs. have an early night. no burning the midnight oil, ok?”

Grillby made a noise of mock irritation at this, shooting Sans a look over his shoulder that only got him a wider smile. He had a very brief moment of temptation to ask Sans to stay the night, but pushed it aside quickly. It wouldn't have been the first time his friend slept over, or even the second, but having the skeleton in his private space was something they were both still far too flustered about to guarantee Grillby getting any proper sleep. So, reluctantly, he saw Sans to the front door and watched him for a few moments as he walked in the direction of his own house. Sans briefly turned to walk backwards a few steps to shoot him another smile before disappearing into the darkening town.  


* * *

 

Back upstairs, there was still the matter of the leak.

Grillby stood and regarded the cast iron pot for a moment as a new problem he hadn't thought of that morning now presented itself.

The pot was roughly a quarter filled with water. Nowhere near full, but enough liquid to give the fire monster serious pause at the idea of picking it up and pouring it out a window or something. The danger amplified by the fact that the cast iron pot was heavy. Not heavy enough that he couldn't lift it, but heavy enough that tilting it to pour out the water would be awkward at best. Not to mention he would either have to open an upstairs window and lift the heavy thing up to be able to empty it, or carry it all the way downstairs, liquid sloshing the entire way, to reach the back door.

He rubbed at the corner of his eyes fitfully as he played out both scenarios in his head. Just picturing the actions made him feel all the more exhausted. Coupled with his slowly growing lethargy, he wasn't sure attemtping an action that required him to be careful and focused on what he was doing would be the best idea. Looking at the rippling surface, it didn't look like the pot was going to be filled any time soon. With this fact in mind, he simply wrote the task off and focused on getting some sleep instead.

When he finally lied down after his evening ritual, he remained in bed for all of two minutes before he stood up and moved to sleep in the living area instead. The sound of water dripping on water was making his flames crawl.

The armchair wasn't particularly comfortable, but lying over its armrests, Grillby somehow managed to fall asleep.

 


	2. Shopping Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grillby goes to buy supplies for his roof. Sans missunderstands but is too much of a dork to properly ask what's going on and just ends up making himself worry over nothing.

It wasn't the best sleep, but it _was_ sleep. And even though he had no plans to open the restaurant for breakfast, Grillby couldn't shake his habit of waking up early. Little sleep or not, he at least felt up to tackling his roof problem, despite a stiff neck and sore back from the armchair.

After getting dressed and ready to face the day, Grillby went to retrieve the cast iron pot from his bedroom. It hadn't filled much more since the previous night as it seemed the snow from the roof had melted away enough to stop dripping directly into his home. With no real desire to have water in his home, however, Grillby switched the cast iron pot for a skillet just in case. Carrying the heavy pot down the stairs was time consuming as he took each step one by one, but he was rewarded when he reached his backdoor without a single splash. He carried it out into the backyard and over to the line of trees before pouring it out, not wanting to make an ice puddle in front of his own door for himself to find later.

With the task done, he left the pot in the restaurant kitchen and went to retrieve the roofing tar he thought he still had stashed in a storage cupboard, but despite upending the entire thing, he didn't find any trace of it. With a string of frustrated crackles, Grillby stood in the middle of the mess he'd made and considered his options. There really only was one. Although he could probably climb up onto the roof and try to melt the tar that was already there to cover the crack, it would spread the tar thin and the very next tree branch that fell wrong would simply crack it again. So that only left going to Hotland and getting some more tar.

Being the only fire monster in Snowdin, Grillby had avoided building a home and business out of wood like everyone else. However that also meant there was no neighbour he could go to to ask if he could use any building supplies they might have either. So Hotland it was.

Grillby sighed to himself as he went to collect the coins he would need before heading out the front door and locking it up. He gave the closed sign a sideways glance as he moved to walk to the river. He really didn't like the idea of having to close the restaurant like this on such short notice, but he reasoned that he would merely explain what happened to his customers once he opened again. If nothing else, the sight of him on the roof and the smell of melting tar would be enough to answer most of the questions the town's residents might have.

Feeling better at the thought, he boarded the ferry and made himself as comfortable as he could on a floating wooden structure drifting on running water, and focused instead on making a list of any other supplies he might need while he was there. Perhaps some ingredients he'd been running low on recently. He knew he was practically out of peri salt for the fries. And he might as well check in with some old acquaintances who would no doubt be annoyed with him if he was in the area and didn't say hello.

 

* * *

 

Sans stood in front of Grillby's, staring at the closed sign. He pulled out his phone and checked the time. It was right in the middle of what would have been the breakfast rush. He sighed and pocketed his phone again, turning away from the door and following the familiar road out of town to Snowdin Forest.

He had been the one who suggested Grillby take some time off, and yet seeing the restaurant closed made him feel weird. He couldn't remember a day where the restaurant had been closed without some kind of forewarning. Grillby was sure to let customers know when he would close for stock-taking or if he needed to give the restaurant a top to bottom clean. But these were rare events and the restaurant could almost always be relied upon to be open and welcoming during business hours. Sans didn't even recall the place closing for Gyftmas or Grillby's birthday.

He frowned to himself for a second. When _was_ Grillby's birthday anyway? We wasn't sure he had ever heard or seen any mention of something like that from the bartender. He would have to ask about that next time he saw him. With a new focus, Sans spent the rest of the walk to his station thinking up both birthday and fire puns, and trying to figure out ways he could fit the two together.

 

* * *

 

Hotland was always strangely comforting to Grillby. At least for the first half hour of returning. He would always climb off the ferry, thankful to leave the water behind, and then walk to the nearby town and drink in the warmth all around him, fueling his own burning core and fanning his flame so they fluttered rapidly from his form. The sand and rock under his feet was dry, and the odd flurry of embers from one of the cliffs overlooking the great magma lake was as welcome to him as a gentle spray on a hot day to anyone else.

And then, after the initial reunion with all that made up his original home, he would reach the nearby town and it would all flood back as to why he had packed up and headed for Snowdin in the first place. Hotland towns were a mixture of natural rock, hardened magma and high technology, thanks to both the nearby core as well as the Royal Scientist Lab. Buildings half of rock and half of sleek white metal were covered with cables, twisting tubes, vents and steel pillars. The residents were all either employed in New Home or were scientists tasked with keeping the CORE in optimal working order. The towns of Hotland were, in a way, all miniature concentrated cities. Filled with businessmen, scientists, street savvy kids, cutthroat entrepreneurs and the occasional Vulkin who seemed to be some of the only locals blissfully uninterested in any kind of scientific or commercial progress. Coupled with the hybrid buildings and the natural heat, it made this area of the Underground stifling.

A stifled flame never did well. Hotland was no place to open a small establishment meant to offer a calm and homey atmosphere. It was no place for quiet, withdrawn monsters who only wanted to focus on living happily. Hotland's natural warmth was nice, but you wouldn't want to live there.

Grillby went through his mental shopping list, moving from store to store to pick up what he needed and storing them in the nearest dimensional box, ready to be retrieved once he was back home in Snowdin. It was a more taxing job than he anticipated, as every store owner wanted to hear the news from the other side of Waterfall. Many Hotland residents had no desire to risk the very long walk between pools and dark drops into unseen lakes to get to the frigid mountains and forests of Snowdin, and yet were always eager to hear what if anything was happening to their fellow monsters so seemingly far away. Sure there was the ferry which could turn a day long walk into half an hour, but even then it seemed the Hotland locals felt unless there was a specific reason to go to Snowdin it wasn't worth the effort. So many of them simply stayed put.

Grillby was not talkative by nature, and it took a great deal of persuasion and prodding from the store owners for him to relent and give a brief run down of recent events, relying on signing to do so. Mostly this was due to his dislike of openly speaking to people who he didn't know or weren't close to, but also to save his throat as, inevitably, as soon as he managed to leave one store with his purchases, he would enter another and have to repeat the entire process all over again.

By the time Grillby had completed his shopping, (apart from the peri salt which he was unable to find), it had taken hours. And he wasn't done. He spent the rest of the day dropping in on various old acquaintances. He wouldn't use the word 'friends', but they were all people who had known his family 'back in the day' or who had done business with his parents at some point, or had help pitch in for Grillby's 'restaurant starting fund' when he had finally made up his mind to leave. It was a parade of surprised but pleased greetings, handshakes, welcoming inside, offered drinks of something spicy and flammable, having to excuse himself, having to insist he still had a lot to do, then goodbeys before moving on to the next house.

It was an exhausting affair.

 

* * *

 

Sans pulled a face at the door in front of him. The closed sign was exactly where it had been that morning, without any sign of having been flipped during the day. A cursory glance at the snow in front of the door showed no footprints coming or going, and the shutters were all drawn tight. Sans risked trying the door handle but found it locked, as he has expected. After a moment, he rounded the building to get to the backdoor. He did notice some footprints here that were deeper than most people's thanks to Grillby's natural heat, however, when he tried the door it was also locked. For a brief moment he considered warping inside the building, but hesitated.

He and Grillby had very slowly been growing closer, mostly thanks to effort on Grillby's side. Sans was not the most romantically inclined monster in the Underground, and it had taken a lot of internal angst for him to come to terms with the fact that he had grown to care for the bartender in a way that was different than the friendship they already had. It had taken even longer for Grillby's teasing and coaxing to finally urge Sans to openly show these new feelings, and even longer than that for Sans to get to a point where Grillby could finally feel the two of them were in something they could both admit was 'dating'. However, despite the growing familiarity between them, there were still a lot of things regarding this whole 'being together' thing Sans automatically found nerve wracking. Whether it was that it flustered him, or if he honestly felt intimidated, he wasn't sure. But there was a weird underlying emotion he hadn't been able to shake. It made him nervous to do things which were _too_ familiar. _Too_ intimate. _Too_ much like a lowering of his guard.

And entering Grillby's home and potentially going up to his personal living space uninvited just felt like one step too far into a territory Sans was not sure he could turn and walk out of again. However, the closed restaurant still loomed silent in front of him, with closed doors and drawn shutters.

He sighed and decided on a compromise. He leaned against the door as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through his contacts until he found the one labeled 'Spicy Item'. He stared at the on-screen keyboard, trying to think of how to sound as casual as possible, before he finally mustered the nerve to type something and hit send.

 

* * *

 

Grillby's phone buzzed as his host reached the tail end of his sentence. He waited until the other finished their thought, gave the polite chuckle as an appropriate response, then pulled out his phone to check it. A new message under the name of 'Funnybone' flashed on his screen. Curious, he made an apologetic motion to his host before opening it. Sans was not in the habit of sending texts first. Most if not all the time it was up to Grillby to get a conversation started, and even then it often took Sans a long time to reply. He couldn't remember who the last person who spoke was, however, so it could have simply been a response to an old conversation he no longer remembered.

 

* hey g. u ok up there?

 

Grillby frowned at the senseless text. He scrolled up to briefly check what they had been talking about before, but it seemed completely unrelated. He flipped back to the most recent message, still trying to figure out what it meant and if perhaps Sans was trying to set him up for a joke, when a second one came through.

 

* ur places lookin a lil dark. jus wondering what ur up to lol.

 

Something clicked and Grillby realised his friend must have stopped by the restaurant on his way home. With a small huff and smiling to himself he wrote back a short reply.

 

I am in Hotland, as a matter of fact. However I plan to come home later tonight. *

 

He pocketed the phone after that, apologising again to his host for the interruption. The older monster merely waved it off, commenting on how Grillby probably needed to get home anyway as it was getting late. It still took another drink between them before Grillby could properly be on his way, however.

 

* * *

 

Sans breathed a short sigh when the reply came back. Hearing Grillby wasn't even home made him feel much better. The lonely closed-off feeling the restaurant was giving off had nothing to do with its owner, in that case.

 

* k. c u when u get back.

 

Satisfied, he turned and rounded the building to head back to his own home, fluffing his hood slightly against the evening cold.

When he got back inside his living room he gave a small shudder to shake off the last of the outdoors and wandered towards the kitchen, kicking off his slippers as he went.

A head wearing a comically large chef's hat with 'bone appetit' written across it popped into view through the door frame and shot him a disapproving look.

“SANS! THERE YOU ARE! YOU ARE LATE!!”

Sans' smile perked at his brother as he wandered into the kitchen which had the unmistakable smell of marinara and onions in the air.

“sorry bro. made a quick detour on the way home.”

“I KNOW THAT IS NOT TRUE!” Papyrus said, stirring a large bowl over enthusiastically, causing red flecks to land on the countertop around him. “YOUR SHORTCUTS, LAZY AS THEY MAY BE, AT LEAST MAKE YOU _FASTER_ AT BEING LAZY!! TAKING A DETOUR MEANT YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN HOME SOONER!”

Sans laughed at this, hopping up onto the opposite countertop and grinning at his brother's back. “not that kind of detour, bro.” He swung a leg absently for a moment before he added, “i ran by grillby's.”

“OH.” Papyrus' spine straightened slightly at this and Sans could see him blink before he focused back on stirring, although with considerably less annoyance. “I SEE!! WELL THAT MAKES SENSE THEN!! HOWEVER IN THAT CASE YOU'RE BACK EARLY!”

He spun around and waved a sauce covered spoon at Sans, successfully splashing drops of sauce on both his face as well as Papyrus' apron. “I KNOW THIS WHOLE 'DATING' THING IS STILL NEW AND SCARY, BROTHER, BUT YOU SHOULD ALWAYS MEET THE CHALLENGE OF A DATE WITH ALL OF YOUR ENTHUSIASM!! SHORT DATES CAN BE NICE, BUT YOU SHOULD BE CAREFUL NOT TO MAKE THEM _TOO_ SHORT!!”

He frowned to himself and rubbed at his chin. “OR... IS THERE PERHAPS SOME FORM OF CONCENTRATED DATE I AM NOT FAMILIAR WITH??” He dissolved into a sudden fit of nervous giggling as he shrugged. “I ERM... HAVE NOT QUITE REACHED THE MORE... _ADVANCED_ DATING CHAPTERS IN MY MANUAL JUST YET!!”

“dude, _no!_ ” Sans pulled a face at him, partly amused and partly mortified as Papyrus' face was turning a rather bright shade of pink. “get your mind outta the gutter!”

He leaned back again with an amused noise before he fell silent again. Papyrus turned back to his sauce making, still quietly tittering to himself and smiling a little too widely.

“i dunno if i'm reading too much into it but...”

Papyrus half turned back to show he was listening. Sans scratched at the side of his jaw a moment before he shrugged. “when i said hi yesterday, grillbz wasn't looking so hot. he said something about not sleeping or something.”

“I DON'T SLEEP MUCH EITHER!” Papyrus grinned proudly, but quickly lapsed into a more sympathetic smile. “IF YOU ARE WORRIED, I DON'T THINK ONE NIGHT OF LITTLE SLEEP IS ANYTHING TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT, SANS. JUST LOOK AT ME AFTER ALL!! I BARELY SLEEP AT ALL!”

Sans decided to ignore Papyrus' exaggeration of how little sleep he got and offered him an unsure smile instead. “maybe. but i went over there this evening and his place has been closed the whole day.” He ignored Papyrus' brief interruption of 'oh' and continued before the other could go into a string of reassurance again. “i sent him a text and he says he's been in hotland and only coming home tonight.” Sans shrugged again. “i dunno if the two are related or anything like that. it's just kinda weird. he's not the kinda guy to just do things outta nowhere.”

“ARE YOU WORRIED HE MIGHT BE SICK?” Papyrus asked, putting his bowl down and turning to face Sans properly, leaning back against his own counter.

Sans thought this over and realised he was, actually. He hadn't really stopped to think about it but that seemed the best explanation for how he was feeling.

“i guess so.”

“WELL, THERE'S NO NEED TO WORRY, BROTHER!” Papyrus beamed at him. “EVEN IF GRILLBY IS INDEED SICK, IF HE HAS GONE TO HOTLAND IT'S PROBABLY FOR SOMETHING A FIRE MONSTER WOULD NEED TO GET BETTER, RIGHT?”

“maybe?” Sans gave a half shrug.

“AND IF THAT'S THE CASE, THEN CLEARLY GRILLBY IS DOING A VERY GOOD AND ADMIRABLE JOB OF TAKING CARE OF HIMSELF!” Papyrus pushed away from the counter again, pointing a finger in the air for emphasis. “DESPITE HIS GREASY, UNHEALTHY FOOD, GRILLBY SEEMS LIKE A VERY LEVEL-HEADED MONSTER!! HE MUST BE, TO RUN A WHOLE RESTAURANT ALL BY HIMSELF!! I AM SURE WHATEVER AILMENT HE MIGHT HAVE CAN BE FIXED UP IN NO TIME!! AFTER ALL, HE SAID HE'D BE BACK TONIGHT! SO IT CAN'T BE ANYTHING SERIOUS!!”

“i guess when you put it like that...” Sans nodded, almost to himself as he thought over this new information.

“YOU KNOW I'M RIGHT!” Papyrus crossed his arms and puffed out his chest. “AND YOU CAN SEE HIM TOMORROW AND SEE FOR YOURSELF THAT EVERYTHING IS UNDER CONTROL!”

“yeah. 'guess you're right.” Sans dropped down from the counter before flashing Papyrus a genuine smile. “thanks bro.”

“OF COURSE!” Papyrus grinned proudly. “WHAT SORT OF BROTHER WOULD I BE IF I COULD NOT PLAY THE SYMPATHETIC EAR TO YOUR LOVE WOES!!”

Sans' expression immediately crashed and he made a drawn out noise. “don't say it like that, man!”

Papyrus merely devolved into a series of 'nyeh heh hehs' as he focused back on his cooking.

 

* * *

 

It was the middle of the night by the time Grillby stepped off the ferry and back onto the snow covered ground. He wandered the empty streets of Snowdin back to his home and struggled with his keys as he tried to figure out which one was for the front door before he was finally inside his own house again. His supplies from the day's shopping were still stashed inside the void of the dimensional box, but the very concept of unpacking everything he had bought and carrying them inside was out of the question.

He merely pulled the front door closed behind him before he dragged himself across the open restaurant and up the stairs past the still cluttered kitchen. In his bedroom, the skillet had a small puddle in its center but if there was any trace or noise of dripping water, Grillby didn't register it, as he simply dropped himself down on his bed and immediately sunk into it with a long exhale.

After a few minutes he kicked off his shoes before pulling off his gloves, removing his tie, and undoing the top button of his shirt. He then settled back down and promptly fell asleep, the room quickly warming up as dark red flames rolled slowly over his form.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With thanks to Skerb for helping me out with this thing so much TToTT


	3. Plants and Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans' anxiety gets the better of him. Meanwhile Grillby finally fixes his roof.

It would have felt tedious after the third time if it didn't set him on edge so much. The door was firmly shut, and the 'closed' sign was exactly where it had been for the last two days in a row. There were some footprints leading into the building which were not there yesterday, but otherwise nothing seemed to have changed at all.

Sans felt the corners of his mouth twitch as he looked up at the windows of the second storey. They were closed and had the curtains drawn, hiding anything inside from view of the main street. If he stared hard enough, he could almost trick himself into seeing a flickering light behind them, but there was just as good of a chance that he was imagining it and seeing what he wanted to see.

He gave a huff and rubbed the back of his skull, his gaze drifting to the side as he felt torn between his emotions and his logic. He knew that the best thing to do was to leave the restaurant and its owner alone. Jogging over to the building during the breakfast rush and bugging Grillby about the place still being closed just because he wanted some reassurance that everything was ok was a terrible idea on every level. And yet part of him, the anxious part he kept as hidden as he could, was desperate to get some interaction with the fire monster, for no other reason than to shake off this nervous feeling he had. Leaving Grillby alone and checking in with him later was the mature thing to do, he knew that. But what if Grillby really was sick, as Sans had guessed the night before? What if he had gone to Hotland to see some kind of monster doctor?

Grillby was well-liked by the town, but he was also a very private monster. There were exceptionally few people Sans could think of that he would even call Grillby's friend. Red-Bird was most likely one of them, and he thought he remembered the Dogi being pretty familiar with him, but the guard dogs were rarely in the restaurant during the same time as Sans, so he hadn't seen them interact that much. The point was, if Grillby was sick, who else in town would even be aware of it? And more importantly, who would check in on him to make sure he was ok?

Sans shuffled a slipper in the snow, digging a shallow gouge with his foot. Was he supposed to be the one to look after Grillby in situations like this? After all, they had been spending a lot of time together, and not just during business hours. They were technically 'dating' weren't they?

What had started as casual walks to and from a few of the stores in town together when Grillby needed to restock, had turned into walks together for no reason other than just walking. A miracle, as far as Papyrus was concerned. Sans doing something as close to exercise as 'walking' was met with so much fanfare from his brother that Sans had regretted mentioning it. But it was more than just walks. Business hours at the bar, after hours in Grillby's living room and once or twice, an entire night spent over. The idle conversations between them. The incredibly easy way the two talked about whatever random event or thought or bad joke came to mind. The light teasing, good natured criticism and occasional game of trying to get the other to blush. It was all just so _easy_. Sans liked easy. It didn't take much effort and was fun. But whenever he caught a hint that Grillby was turning the moment into something a little _more_ , he always felt his soul start pounding in his chest and beads of sweat prickle against his skull.

Luckily for him, Grillby seemed to enjoy his flustered reactions and often said they were endearing. Sometimes Grillby would take the hint and back off, slipping into the more casual company they had always had, and sometimes he would push his luck and see how far he could express his feelings before he reached a wall. And, much to Sans' personal horror, Sans was realising his boundaries were becoming less and less resistant. What started as a look that lingered a little longer than usual and a certain way in which Grillby's eyes perked to indicate a smile, had slowly become soft touches as he walked past Sans during service hours, or leaning closer and closer into his personal space, and a very few handful of times, when they were completely alone when the front door had been locked and the shutters pulled, some more tender moments with Sans finding his arms resting over the other's shoulders as heat flooded his mouth and left little singed marks all the way down this neck.

And the more time they spent together, the deeper and more intense these short stolen moments became. And the less tense and apprehensive Sans found himself in these moments, the more he realised his carefully built walls and boundaries were being demolished. And in truth, he still didn't know how ok he was with that. He always devolved into overthinking, worry, and something bordering on fear when it was the next day and he was left running the heavy kisses of the night before over in his mind. And yet the next time the fire monster would lean down and press a kiss against his skull, Sans always, without fail, felt himself leaning in as well.

And now, as he stood in front of the locked restaurant with no sign of him, Sans couldn't help but think of those moments as he pictured the possibly sick bartender lying alone upstairs in his bed. If nothing else, if _nobody_ else, then shouldn't he of all people in this town be the one to actually check up on him? Who else was there? Who else, exactly, had a level of closeness with Grillby that would be 'acceptable' to make sure he was ok? Sans hated the idea of responsibility, he hated the idea of someone who wasn't Papyrus being reliant on him, but if not him, who else?

And yet even as he talked himself up, Sans still couldn't get himself to move. Something inside of him was holding him back, preventing him from simply warping into the building, or throwing snow at an upstairs window, or even just knocking on the door. He wanted to. He desperately wanted to see Grillby standing in front of him, perfectly ok and perhaps amused by his concern. But he just couldn't push himself to actually make that happen.

“He came home late last night,” a voice said directly beside him, making Sans jolt violently and spin to face whoever had snuck up on him.

His surprised jump caused the other monster to shrink back with a startled cry of their own. It took a couple of deep breaths for Sans to regain his composure as he took a moment to look over the much smaller figure.

It was definitely a monster, but Sans hadn't seen them around town before. They were very small, reaching only to his kneecap, resembling in all ways a flower. They appeared to be growing out of the ground itself, but Sans could tell they had most likely just pushed themself out of the snow. They gave off the impression that they were a child, but Sans couldn't remember seeing any floral monsters in Snowdin. It tended to be a little too cold. But maybe they were from one of the other nearby towns in the forest, although why they were suddenly sprouting beside him in front of the restaurant he couldn't guess.

The flower pouted at him with a small frown. “Gee whiz! Don't scare me like that!”

“sorry.” Sans said lamely, his hands automatically finding their way into his pockets as he regarded the other. Something about them made Sans feel uneasy, but he couldn't put his finger on it. Most likely it was just the way they had startled him.

“That's ok!” the flower smiled, relaxing as they started to bob in place happily. “Are ya here to say hi to Grillby? Like I said, he came in real late last night!”

“oh yeah?” Sans lifted a brow at... him? Yes him. “ya make a point of hanging around bars in the middle of the night, kid?”

The flower stopped his bob and actually seemed a little caught off guard before having the decency to look sheepish. “Erm... haha.... I...” he perked up again, smiling brightly. “I just saw him come home! He's really bright so he's hard to miss in the dark!”

“uh-huh,” Sans answered with a neutral tone.

“Yeah!” the flower continued, either unaware or uncaring of Sans' response. “I saw him come home! Everyone was already asleep! And he came from the ferry, opened his door and closed it again! I er... I was sleeping close by when his red glow woke me up!”

“you were sleeping outside?” Sans pressed. He knew he was being rude but the longer the flower talked, the more the back of Sans' skull started to itch.

“I'm a flower!” the other answered, rolling his eyes.

“right.” Sans turned back to the door. A part of him was telling him not to encourage the other monster. The part of him that was good at judging people, of seeing through them too easily, the part that he kept well under wraps because, with not much else going for him, understanding a possible threat early was a massive advantage. But the locked door and the silent restaurant overpowered his better judgement, and he turned back to the flower.

“ya said he was glowing red when you saw him?”

The flower nodded, looking happy to get the attention he obviously wanted. “Uh-huh! He was like a bright red flashlight! It made everything look kinda spooky, actually!”

Sans hummed thoughtfully. He wasn't any expert on fire monsters, but there were two things he was more than sure of by now; the first was that Grillby's ambience was, like most fires, a gentle orange, not red. And the second was that Grillby's flames fluctuated in colour and intensity depending on his mood, his health, and his emotions. The whole dating thing might have been new, but Sans had known Grillby for a long time before either of them decided to make their friendship into something more intimate. He couldn't remember ever seeing Grillby sick, but he had seen what the bartender's fire and colours did when he was tired, or uncomfortable. It wasn't that hard to figure out. Despite his quiet nature Grillby was not subtle. Bright, lively, orange flames were content and healthy, low, rolling, red flames were unhappy and tired.

The mental image of Grillby coming home in the middle of the night from an impromptu trip to Hotland with a deep red flame made Sans tense up where he stood.

“poor guy must've been worn out,” he said absentmindedly, turning to look at the upper windows again.

“Yeah he looked it!” the flower said enthusiastically. “He seemed really really tired! He almost dropped his keys unlocking his house! And he was rubbing at his head like this!” The flower mimed pressing a leaf against his forehead and clenching his eyes shut. “It looked like a headache maybe? But I'm glad he went into his house! He should go to bed if he looks like that!”

Sans said nothing, his eyes glued to the window. After a minute he dug around in his pocket and pulled out his phone, tapping it a few times.

“Are ya gonna call him?” The flower asked, craning his small head as if to try and see despite the difference in height.

Sans didn't answer, he merely checked his messages. Apart from their very brief exchange yesterday, however, nothing new had been sent. He stared at the chat log for all of a minute before he started typing out a text and hit send, turning to look back at the window as he did so.

 

* * *

 

a Buzz in his pocket jolted Grillby awake.

He blinked rapidly as his flames crackled, lifting his head sharply to look around the room. It took a second for his mind to catch up with him as he realised it was his phone. He ran a hand over his face before pulling it out of his pants pocket and staring blearily at the screen.

It showed one new message from Funnybone.

 

* yo grillbz. u up? dont look like u got ne grub for us today

 

Grillby gave a long sigh and dropped his head back onto the pillow, shooting a glance at the time. Considering the text, he wasn't surprised to see it was well near the end of the breakfast rush. He had actually managed to sleep through his alarm, but considering how he felt that didn't surprise him either. He could feel the lethargy clinging to him that only came from sleep deprivation, as well as the strange prickling sensation within the flames on his head, as if the fire that made up his form was actively protesting against being awake.

He stared at the text for a moment before he tapped out a quick reply of his own. After he was done, he reached and put his phone on the bedside table, taking a moment to remove his glasses as well, before he rolled over away from them and faced the other side of the room, closing his eyes and giving a sigh as he drifted back to sleep.

 

* * *

 

Sans' phone buzzed in his hand and abruptly cut itself off as he checked the reply. He blinked wide-eyed at the response.

 

Not right now ok sans? *

 

It was far more abrupt than Grillby's usual messages, and Sans couldn't help but notice that despite the usual big nerd that he was, Grillby had not bothered with a comma or capitalising Sans' name. His thumb hovered, readying to type a response when he stopped himself. Despite everything inside him desperately yelling at him to maintain contact with what he was now convinced was an ill friend, the message had still told him to leave Grillby alone, regardless of his anxiety.

“What did he say?!” The flower beside him urged, bobbing up and down.

“he says he's busy,” Sans muttered, finally putting his phone back in his pocket, but still reluctant to leave the restaurant.

“Oh! Maybe you should talk to him later?” The flower said.

Sans was quiet for a moment before he gave a stiff nod, finally forcing himself to turn away and walk in the direction of the forest and his station. He was vaguely aware of the flower watching him go.

 

* * *

 

When he woke up again, it was already afternoon. However, Grillby finally felt more kindled again. He stretched and slowly pushed himself upright, running his fingers through the flames on his head to stoke them. The button down shirt he was wearing was creased beyond recognition, and he was sure if he looked in the mirror he would find himself looking more disheveled than he had been in a long time. He gave a huff as he pushed himself to his feet, tugging at his shirt absently. His attention was dragged to the skillet lying where his bed used to be as he remembered what he was supposed to be doing today.

Tired of feeling out of sorts in his own home, Grillby gave a determined nod before turning and retrieving some clothes suitable for the rather messy job of melting tar. Afternoon or not, he refused to spend another night with water dripping into his home.

Once he was properly dressed and retrieved his glasses, he spotted his phone lying where he had left it earlier. Remembering that Sans had texted him, he picked it up and flipped to the chat log again. This was the second time in as many days that Sans had texted him first. And it was the second time, he realised, that he had essentially blown him off.

Suddenly feeling guilty, Grillby tapped out a message as he grabbed a work coat and descended the stairs to the restaurant.

 

* * *

 

Sans was staring at the line of trees across the path in front of him, chin propped up on a hand and fingers restlessly tapping at his jaw. He had been playing out the events of the past three days in his head the entire day. Grillby was sick. It was obvious the more he thought about it and the only possible explanation for Grillby's behaviour lately. He had seemed worn out the last time Sans had actually seen him and had complained about not sleeping. His flames had been burning a darker shade than normal too. Next he had made an impromptu trip to Hotland, a place Sans knew Grillby rarely went to unless it was time to restock, and generally Grillby always told him beforehand when he was planning a day's trip, even before they were dating. Next he hears from the flower that Grillby had looked darker in colour than normal when he came home, if the kid was to be believed. Sans wasn't sure he did, but he couldn't figure out any reason the flower would lie to him about something like that. The kid hadn't shown any signs that he even knew what the red flames meant, only that it had looked spooky to him. And finally, a closed restaurant for apparently no reason, and a message telling him Grillby didn't feel like talking.

Sans' mouth drew tight. Maybe he should have warped into the building after all. Just made sure the fire monster was ok. He could even have done it on the sly. Warped in, checked if he was ok, and warped out before he was noticed. Or even if he _was_ noticed he could've just shrugged it off with a 'whoops! bye!' and warped away immediately. Instead, he had turned away and gone to work.

He clicked his teeth, irritated with himself as he sat up a little straighter. It was just past lunch time. He decided that as soon as he could get away with it, he was going to get off work early and walk back to town, and one way or another, get inside the building and actually _check_ on his friend. No second guesses or flustered over-thinking or imagined rudeness. He was going to go inside and make sure Grillby was alright.

As if on cue, his phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and sunk into his chair with relief when the name on the screen flashed 'Spicy Item'.

 

I'm sorry for brushing you off earlier. I was sleeping and was not quite awake yet. *

 

Sans couldn't fight the grin that spread on his face, picturing a half asleep Grillby trying to send a text. It explained the broken grammar at least.

 

* no prob g. u get enough rest?

 

Grillby unlocked his front door and headed over to the closest dimensional box, smiling at the reply.

 

Enough for now I believe. I can't sleep all day, after all. *

 

Sans' smile faltered ever so slightly. Grillby was a notoriously early riser, even on his days off. Sans was well aware of this as one night he had stayed over, Grillby had been up and dressed before it was even properly day. Sleeping all day was completely out of character for him, and despite the initial relief, the worries Sans had been obsessing over for the past few hours all came back in an instant.

He hesitated for a moment, not wanting to come across too strongly before he replied.

 

* ur not the sleepin in type. u tryin 2 set a record or smth?

 

Grillby had to dig around deep in the box before he managed to find his groceries from the day before. He stacked them neatly beside it, making sure they were in no danger of falling over before he picked up the bucket of roofing tar to begin with and started the slow process of carrying everything back inside, typing absently with one hand as he walked.

 

Not exactly. Yesterday was rather tiring. *

 

Sans' expression turned grim at this. He wondered what had happened in Hotland that would tire Grillby out so much. Papyrus had mentioned Grillby had probably gone to Hotland for a fire doctor, but Sans didn't actually know if that really was true.

 

* o yea u said u went 2 hotland. busy day?

 

Grillby put the bucket of roofing tar beside his back door before turning to head back to the box.

 

Exhausting, quite frankly. I had some things to pick up and some people to speak with. I think I did more signing yesterday than I do in a week. *

 

'Things to pick up' was pretty vague, but Sans decided it was possible Grillby just meant his regular supplies for the restaurant. Signing was strange though. Grillby was not very talkative, this was true, but this also extended to signing. Grillby usually only signed when he really had something to say that required words rather than just normal social cues. Usually an annoyed sigh, a tilted head, a knowing nod, a thousand small gestures were enough to communicate with the restaurant's regular customers. Signing was used, obviously, and even a word or two would come out between him and his regulars, but even on the busiest of days, Sans had never seen the fire monster need to sign that much to communicate. He wondered what or who the bartender had been talking to and why exactly it had needed so much conversation. Sans ignored his paranoia feeding him worst case scenarios.

 

* sounds rough bud. u good? get everyth u need?

 

Grillby pocketed his phone as he picked up an arm full of groceries and carried them home. He felt his phone buzz with Sans' reply but ignored it for the moment, not having a free hand to answer.

Sans stared at his screen, waiting for the reply and feeling nervous when it didn't come right away.

“Are you talking to Grillby?” a familiar voice asked from the front of his sentry hut.

Sans leaned forward over the counter to see the yellow flower blinking up at him.

His eye sockets narrowed. “are you following me?”

“No!” the flower quickly waved him off before giving an embarrassed chuckle. “Y-... yeeeeeaaaah.”

Sans' gaze sharpened. “why?”

The flower straightened himself and held eye-contact with Sans for a second. There was something in his expression that was hard to place, but it was gone just as fast as the flower broke into a nervous grin, tilting his head to one side.

“I wanted to hear if Grillby was ok! And you said you were gonna talk to him a little later, so I figured it was better to stick with you than just sit in front of his house all day!”

Sans drummed his fingers against the counter, pinning the flower where he stood with his gaze. He'd had an inkling that the flower was bad news as soon as he had started talking, but the more they talked, the more that brief feeling of unease grew. Sans couldn't pin down what it was exactly, but there was just something in the flower's tone of voice, their expressions, their movements, it was all textbook innocent and childish. But not in the way that real children were innocent and childish. It felt put on, like a well practiced act. The flower was good at it, no doubt, but the longer he interacted, the more Sans could see the cracks in the whole display. Not to mention he still had never seen anything like the flower in Snowdin before that morning.

His smile widened. “tell me, kid, why're you so worried, huh? not gonna lie, i don't think i've ever seen ya around before. not at grillby's, not in town, not in the forest. i don't think i've ever even seen _any_ flower monsters around here before. now i got ya not only following me the whole day, but you show up right outside my buddy's place, _and_ you keep calling him by name when i know i didn't mention it. so how about ya drop the act and tell me what gives?” He gave a brief shrug. “i mean, don't get me wrong, usually i don't mind messing around, but right now i'm really not in the mood.”

The flower's smile faded as he stared up at Sans with a neutral expression. Sans could almost see the wheels turning as the flower thought through his options. Sans waited, his grin rictus and his eyelights boring into him, demanding an explanation.

The flower flinched and smiled again, but this time there was an edge of uncertainty to it that seemed less like a child getting scolded and more like someone who was struggling to find their footing.

“Ok. I'll come clean if you really wanna know,” the flower said. His tone was more even despite its high pitch, the overly cutesy bounce dropped. “The truth is, I wanna know if Grillby is ok because, well, I'm kinda worried it might be my fault that he's sick.”

Sans was caught off guard. Whatever he had been expecting it had not been a confession of actual _involvement._ His eyes narrowed and leaned forward on his counter.

The flower looked thoughtful before he spoke again, and when he did there was a slight edge to his smile, and something subtle flashing in his eyes. For the briefest moments he almost seemed pleased with himself before he focused back on Sans.

“So, you know how you can make tea out of golden flowers?”

Sans gave a stiff nod but said nothing.

“Well,” the flower spread his leaves out as if they were arms, “I was thinking to myself hey! _I'm_ a golden flower, right? And I'm not just any golden flower! I'm a pretty impressive one! I can talk and move around and all kinds of things! And I realised that you monsters out here so far away from New Home probably don't get a lot of Golden Flower tea! It's too cold here to grow them, and if you wanted to get them from New Home you'd have to walk all the way through Waterfall and the Hotlands and stuff! But I can go wherever I want!”

“oh yeah?” Sans cocked a brow at this last sentence. He was growing impatient with the extended story, wishing the flower would just get to the point where this involved Grillby.

“Yeah!” The flower ignored Sans' irritation, “So I thought to myself, if I'm a golden flower, I could probably give a petal or two to some of you monsters out here so far away from New Home to make tea! I mean... I'm _kind of_ like those flowers! Not exactly but close enough, right? So I told Grillby he should try it out and see if he'd wanna sell something like that! I bet it'd be good for his business!”

“Monsters don't eat other monsters,” Sans said flatly, a subtle frown creeping over his face as his grin tightened. He didn't appreciate being lied to.

The flower actually laughed at this. 'Cackling' was the word that came to Sans' mind.

“I'm not a monster, silly! I'm a flower!”

Sans sat back in his chair slowly, frown deepening. “bull.”

The flower laughed again at this, obviously enjoying the reaction. “Honest! You can Check me if you want!”

Sans hesitated. The flower was definitely not to be trusted, but Checking was not something to be done lightly. It was usually reserved for fights or, in the most dire circumstances, to make sure another monster's health was stable. It wasn't done 'just because'. But the flower was shooting him a wide, toothy grin, waiting eagerly for Sans to run a check on his stats.

Sans stood up, giving the flower one last look of distrust before he sent out his magic to do the Check.

Instead of the usual feedback of attack, defense, and whatever internal bio a monster had to reflect the current status of their soul, the flower's response to Sans' magical inquiry just... didn't make sense. It was the magic equivalent of static, or more accurately a visual glitch. Sans' magic just didn't seem to find anything it could latch onto. The most he could figure out was that despite his small size, the flower was radiating some really nasty vibes. There was also a vague sense that the yellow flower standing in front of him was... false. As if the flower's true nature was somewhere else, but Sans couldn't clear the thought enough to understand what it meant.

He drew his magic back, suddenly aware of the beads of sweat forming on his skull. The feeling of wrongness he had been picking up on had grown so immense that Sans had to fight the sensation of choking on it. And on its edges, burning with a subtle heat, he could pick up the telltale feelings of malintent. The mix of negativity and confusion was so strong, Sans didn't know how he could ever have missed it. The second this flower showed up, Sans should have been able to tell just the level of 'bad' he was talking to.

The flower's smile brightened in triumph. “See? If I was a monster you should've seen some kinda stats, right? I told you!”

Sans said nothing for a moment. Despite being made of bone, his mouth felt dry. He hesitantly leaned forward again, fingers clutching the counter edge.

“what... are you?”

The flower giggled. “I keep telling you! I'm a flower!”

Sans swallowed, his brow furrowing again. Remembering what the flower had said, about tea, he felt his magic ripple as he put two and two together.

“you said you thought you were like the golden flowers you make into tea... and... you said to grillby if he sold golden flower tea, the bar would probably get some good cash out of it...”

The flower nodded, smile growing. “Yeah! I did say that!” He looked thoughtful again, as if trying to figure out what to say next before a darker grin spread on his face. “I guess I'm not like those nice flowers after all. Whoopsie.”

Before he could stop himself, Sans was suddenly standing in front of his sentry station rather than inside it, having warped straight through the counter to loom over the flower, his magic threatening to coil out of him.

“you _poisoned_ him!”

“Now hold on!” The flower slid under ground and popped back into existence a few steps away from him. “Don't get so angry! It wasn't like I did it on purpose or anything!”

The flower smiled as he said this, and Sans felt his eyelights fade out.

“I was just trying to help you poor Snowdin monsters get some nice luxuries like the city has!” The flower blinked large-eyed at Sans, but he couldn't hide the clear amusement in his voice. “How was I supposed to know the fire man would get poisoned if he actually ate some of these.” He fluffed at his petals with a pair of leaves.

The flippant display made something in Sans snap and a bone the length of his arm built itself into existence in the air beside him. Seeing the mounting danger, the flower's expression quickly dropped into a more concerned one.

“Wait hold on! I can fix this!” he insisted, showing the first signs of honest nervousness Sans had seen from him.

“you can _fix_ poisoning my friend?!” Sans snapped, almost surprised at how angry his own tone of voice sounded.

“I can tell you what to do!” the flower insisted, eyes flitting between the bone and Sans' face. “I thought of something you can try!”

Sans stood rigidly, but the bone beside him very slowly faded away. His hollowed eyes remained fixed on the flower in front of him as he bit back on the overwhelming desire to lash out. To scare the flower away and threaten them badly enough that he would never dare come back. “talk fast, buddy.”

“Well it's like this, see!” The flower spoke quickly, “So I'm not a monster, right? So I thought I was like one of those golden flowers maybe, kind of! And I tried to uhm...” he faltered, eyes flicking to the side as he seemed to think something over before continuing. “So anyway after I saw Grillby was sick I went to the Librarby to read up on erm... cave plants!”

Sans didn't move, he couldn't tell if the flower's sudden halting sentences were from nerves or not but he didn't care. “cut the details and get to the point.”

The flower gave a nervous laugh but nodded. “So anyway. I learned that there's uhm... this plant that grows here in the Underground! And it's really rare, but it can be used to cure all kinds of things!”

Sans' eyes narrowed, not believing him. The flower noticed because its tone grew more insistent. “It's true! Something about how since monsters have been living in the Underground for a very very long time and so much magic made up of compassion and love all in one place infused some of the things that grow down here! There's this one plant that you sometimes find and it's got healing powers like mom's cooking times by fifty! I swear!”

“never heard of it,” Sans said.

“Me either but that doesn't stop it from being true!” The flower snapped, looking insulted. “They're really hard to find, mostly because as soon as a monster finds one they pick it. But with all this magic concentrated in one place like this, it slowly works its way down through the cavern all over the place. So they're easier to find if you go looking in places that monsters don't go.” He shrugged his leaves. “They're harder to find these days, but apparently if you go down into the deep caverns you can still find them if you go down far enough.”

Sans stood silent for a moment, not believing the flower's story for a single second. However, as the minutes dragged on and the flower started looking more nervous and ready to run away, Sans reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He tore his gaze away from the flower and accessed the undernet.

Typing 'healing plant rare magic' into the search bar gave him a list of results more accurate than he expected it to. The very first result was for a plant encyclopedia, apparently run by a monster living in the ruins. Pressing on the link opened up a page with a photo of a plant with a very thick, grey stem and a small cluster of purple leaves, the middle of the which glowed a slight cyan.

 

> **Refreshing herb** – Cures most status ailments
> 
>  
> 
> \- It helps when you have been poisoned, or if you are feeling nauseous. It also has other uses. Colds, sunstroke, falling asleep, uncontrollable crying, and feeling strange.

 

Sans blinked, his eyelights springing to life again. He had been convinced the flower was telling him an obvious lie. And yet there it was, listed on a website, and if he scrolled down and skimmed the more in-depth description, was exactly as the flower claimed. A rare plant that was often picked as soon as it was found due to its usefulness, apparently having formed from the concentrated magic of well-meaning monsters living so close together for hundreds of years.

Sans' frown hardened and he snapped his attention back to the flower. He was a little surprised to see the smaller creature had not taken the opportunity to run away while he'd been distracted. Instead, it was grinning at him again, this time with full confidence.

“I told you,” he said.

Sans' grip tightened around his phone. “why should i believe you? you're fidgety and seem unsure of everything you've told me so far. you've also been putting on this innocent act as soon as i met you. for all i know you're just messing with me to go on some wild goose chase for the heck of it.” His eye sockets narrowed. “ya seem like the kinda guy who'd get a kick outta something like that.”

The flower's smile morphed slightly. The grin was still there, but it was sharper, wider, his eyes dark as needle-like fangs snaked out of his mouth.

“Let me ask you this, my friend,” the flower said, their voice suddenly deep, “do you _really_ wanna risk it?”

Sans said nothing, rooted to the spot. But even as he glared, he could feel his reserves crumbling. The flower could easily be lying. He might never even have talked to Grillby before, let alone given him anything to eat. This might have nothing to do with Grillby's recent health problems at all. But the flower was also right... _could_ he risk it if there was even the slightest chance they _weren't_ lying?

The flower broke out into a short fit of cackling, this time loud and unfiltered by any attempt to hide their true feelings. “I'd hurry if I were you, funnybones. Have you seen what happens to a monster as poison slowly works its way through them? It's... really educational.”

There was a snap as the screen of Sans' phone cracked in his grip. The flower broke into another laughing fit, but this time he ducked under ground before Sans could gather his magic to summon another bone. He didn't surface again, although Sans could hear the fading sounds of his laughter echoing from somewhere in the forest.

By the time things were quiet again, Sans realised that he was shaking. The palms of his hands were covered in sweat, and there was a biting chill across his shoulder blades. He wiped a hand over his skull, letting out a stuttering breath as he lifted to look at this cracked phone. It was still on, but a thin line now ran across it, fracturing the image. He blinked when he realised at some point Grillby had sent him a reply to their conversation. He couldn't even remember what he'd said last.

He tapped the message icon to go back to the chat log, his throat suddenly feeling tight as he read. His own irreverent spelling and grammar from earlier reminding him that he'd been asking about Grillby's Hotland visit.

 

* sounds rough bud. u good? get everyth u need?

 

Below it, written out in the typical, well structured and slightly formal sounding text was the reply from one of the people Sans was most fond of in the whole world.

 

Not really, unfortunately. I had been looking for this particular plant species, but it seems nobody had any for sale at all. I am disappointed, but it is not very common so I am not surprised. *

 

Sans' breath hitched, his expression turning pained. He re-read the words, as if there was some kind of hidden meaning to them and they meant something other than the obvious. But he knew he was only fooling himself. There it was, plain as day. Grillby had gone to Hotland to find something to help him with his health, and had come back empty handed, stumbling into his house in the middle of the night with his flames burning dark before sleeping the morning away.

Sans pocketed his phone as if the device itself was to blame. He leaned back, half sitting on his counter as he pinched the bridge of his nose, clenching his eyes shut. As the aggression seeped out of him, he was becoming aware of just how much his head was pounding. Doubt was swirling around in his mind as he tried to sort through his thoughts and decide what on earth he was going to do. Was the flower telling the truth? He honestly had no idea. His better logic was telling him that everything the flower had said were just vindictive lies meant to upset him and send him on some insane fetch quest that wasn't necessary. Why even tell Sans how to fix this if he really _did_ poison Grillby anyway? If he wanted to kill Grillby then-

Sans flinched and crossed his arms over his chest, hugging himself.

If the flower had really wanted to kill Grillby... That's what it was, wasn't it? If even half of what the flower had said was true, it meant Grillby could die. The thought sent a jolt of pain through him as Sans' grip tightened around himself. He tried to focus instead on how the flower had been lying ever since Sans ran into him. How the flower had purposefully acted like an innocent child and tried to lull Sans into a false sense of security, but as soon as the idea of Grillby possibly dying got into his head Sans could not ignore it.

The mental image of the fire monster's normally bright energetic flames burning pale as they lowered and slowly went out almost made him nauseous. He pictured a slow burning poison feeding Grillby's fire, turning it an unnatural and sickening yellow colour. He pictured his friend flickering where he stood before disappearing in a last curl of flame.

Sans gave his head a tight shake, realising his feet were walking purposefully back to Snowdin as if on auto-pilot.

 

* * *

 

 

It was evening by the time Sans got back to town. Papyrus had recalibrated his puzzles recently, and although Sans usually didn't mind, today it meant he had to warp to avoid them which, after about the fourth time, had him out of breath which slowed his walk. The alternative was simply doing the puzzles to get past them. This was fine for some of them, but one of the last puzzles before reaching the bridge to Snowdin was the sliding ice puzzle which had taken Sans far longer than usual to solve. It seemed Papyrus had tried out a brand new configuration, meaning Sans had to constantly reset the panels to get them in the correct order before he could move on.

Grillby had not been answering his texts. At first, panic had completely overwhelmed Sans to the point where he had actually sent a message that bluntly asked _'hey, are u ok grillbz?'_. It had taken almost fifteen minutes before he got a reply an even then it only slightly eased his worry.

 

Sorry, I had something important that needed my attention today. I am alright. I am going to retire early this evening, however. I have still been sleeping poorly and I hope that tonight I can finally get some proper rest. I will hopefully see you tomorrow at the restaurant, however. *

 

Sans stared up at the restaurant's second floor windows. With the dimming light, he could see the slight glow inside even through the curtains. The lights were off downstairs as well as outside by the door and even the sign was dark. There was also a strange smell in the air Sans couldn't identify properly, but it smelled acrid, sweet, and strangely organic. Sans gave a very long sigh as he closed his eyes and gathered his magic, shaking off his fatigue.

 

He stood in Grillby's bedroom, blinking as he adjusted to the change in light. The smell from outside was much stronger here. It gave Sans the impression of something melted, like the smell of molten rock and sulfur that clung to the air in Hotland. And yet it wasn't the same thing. It hung in the room all around him and he had to stifle a cough. Especially when he realised Grillby had already gone to bed and was sleeping silently in front of him.

Shame caused Sans' face to flush blue as he suddenly felt like a creep, standing in his friend's bedroom to watch him sleep. But he didn't leave. He gingerly stepped forward and held his breath, praying the wooden floor would not creak as he tried to get a better look at Grillby's features.

Grillby didn't use blankets, having no real need of them most of the time, meaning that apart from his rather formal black button-up pajamas, his flames were more exposed than when he was wearing his work clothes. His flames were rolling fluidly across his head, like a wave, as his chest rose and fell evenly. They were lower than Sans was use to seeing, although whether this was because he was asleep or for some other reasons Sans had no way of judging. His glow was also much more subtle, giving the room an eerie feeling as shadows shifted around them. His colour was deep orange. Not quite red, but very far from the tangerine and gold mixture Sans had grown so fond of. They were brighter than what the flower had described, but Sans couldn't help but feel that Grillby just looked _tired._ Even as he slept peacefully, weariness seemed to pour off of him, filling the room as much as the heavy scent clinging to Sans' nasal cavity.

For the briefest moment Sans seriously considered Checking Grillby, but at the last second pulled back. He was standing uninvited in someone's bedroom staring at them while they slept, not knowing he was even there. Sans already felt like some kind of criminal, he wasn't about to invade Grillby's privacy to such an intimate level. He had _never_ Checked Grillby before, in all the time they had known each other and in the short time they had been more romantically involved. Sans wasn't sure if disrespect that deep was something he should be forgiven for, no matter what his intentions might be.

Feeling dirty, Sans warped out of the room, exhaling a cloud of steam as he stood outside in the cold. He felt exhausted both physically as well as emotionally. Stress was pulsing against his temples as he stumbled back to his own house. The flower's conversation replayed itself in his mind as he walked through the front door and climbed the stairs to his room, deaf to Papyrus' calls of hello.

 

_Do you really wanna risk it?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With an extreme amount of thanks to Skerb for helping my out not only with spelling and weird sentence structure and things, but also for providing such EXCELLENT little ideas and thoughts that really helped this chapter (and story as a whole) take shape! <3


	4. A Rock and a Hard Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At a loss for what to do, Sans seeks out some advice.

Sans startled awake.

At first he was horrified that he had fallen asleep, but he relaxed when he scrambled for the phone lying on his chest and saw it was still ungodly early.

It had been a restless night. After coming home from checking on Grillby, Sans had wandered to his room in a daze. He was physically tired from warping around and emotionally tired from what the flower had told him. In truth Sans still didn't fully believe that the flower had poisoned Grillby. It was a pretty far fetched story, but even if the flower had just been messing with him, his last comment remained true. Sans could not risk Grillby's health if there was even the smallest chance that the flower was telling the truth. Besides, even if the flower was lying and had nothing to do with Grillby's recent health problems, wouldn't this mystery herb help regardless of what the cause was?

Lying awake as doubts and worry ate at him, Sans had pulled out his phone and started researching the 'refreshing herb' beyond the initial encyclopedia entry. He was worried such a generic name would make it difficult to find accurate information, but apart from a handful of links taking him to pages about tea, a good set of results were on the plant he needed.

There was different information depending on the page he went to, but at least everything looked consistent. It seemed that beyond anything else, the flower had not been lying about the herb itself. There were posts talking about its healing properties in detail, how to use it in household remedies and healing spells, scientific breakdowns of how it absorbs and distributes magic, some forums asking about possibly growing the plant in a garden (all questions seeming to lead to dead-ends and no signs of success) and a singular post from three years ago where a monster in a town not too far from Snowdin was asking if anyone could identify 'this weird plant' they had found.

Among these pages there were a very small handful of shops peppered throughout the Underground which either specialised in magic-grown plants, healing items, or both, which had listings of the herb for sale 'when available'. All of them, however, had big red [SOLD OUT] notices next to the listings.

There was one prevalent fact on every page; the plant grew in dark, cloistered places, away from the artificial light of Monsterkind, it grew straight out of rock most of the time, and would most often be found deep down crevasses and tunnels. And every Undernet page insisted that, most likely, the plant was a lot more common in the Deep Caverns.

At some point while reading, Sans had fallen asleep.

He grumbled under his breath as he pushed himself up off his matress. He wasn't sure when exactly he had drifted off but he still felt a pang of guilt regardless. It was stupid and he knew it, but the overwhelming want to help his friend made any loss of time feel like a betrayal. He slumped slightly as he walked to the kitchen in a stupor for some coffee, running the information over in his head again.

Grillby was unwell. Of that he was sure. Regardless of whether the flower had poisoned him or not, this herb would no doubt help. Sans was still half-convinced it was what Grillby had gone to Hotland to find. But if Grillby _was_ poisoned, this herb was crucial in making sure the fire monster would be ok. However, nowhere in the Underground had any stock by the looks of it. Finding the plant growing somewhere within arm's reach was a long shot, and the only place every monster online seemed to agree was the best place to find it for sure was in the Deep Caverns.

Sans swirled his coffee as he stared off into the middle distance.

The Deep Caverns. There were only a very small handful of cracks in the rock of the Underground that led down to them. Five that they knew about for sure. Three of them were in the cliffs and mountains of the Snowdin wilderness, one was in the Hotlands, beyond a large magma lake and borderline inaccessible unless you could fly and stand the heat, or were some kind of fire elemental. The last one was in Waterfall, halfway down a cliff, with water pouring into it from above. It was very possible there were more holes throughout the Underground, but if they were anywhere, they were in places that no monsters had been able to get to in the hundreds of years they'd been trapped under Mt. Ebott, and no one was in a hurry to find more of them.

They were natural fissures, leading to uncomfortably narrow and misshapen tunnels going deeper into the mountain. A few of them were too small and narrow for any but the smallest monsters to get through, but there were some that were big enough that even someone like the king could slide into them if he sucked in his stomach. Not that it mattered, however; the Deep Caverns were off limits to all monsters, except the king himself, and possibly some of the higher ranked guards.

Sans didn't need to read up on the details to remember the basics. The Deep Caverns were darker and both more wild and more barren than the rest of the Underground. Whereas monsters found themselves able to live in relative comfort in the otherworldly forests of Snowdin, boiling magma of Hotland, or glowing marshes of Waterfall, the Deep Caverns were reportedly a world of pitch blackness, with only infrequent glowing crystals giving any kind of light. The tunnels were narrow and could easily open up to bottomless pits, sudden dead-ends, cracks in the rock too narrow to get through, or twisting pathways that split in too many directions to explore. What was more, there were reports that the pooling magic of so many monsters living in the confined Underground so close together for hundreds of years had trickled downwards, giving the Deep Caverns something very unnatural and eerie about them.

It hadn't taken long for the king to declare the Caverns off limits for the safety of his subjects. Nobody had ever felt the need to argue. The Underground was cramped, but it provided monsters with everything they needed apart from sunlight and fresh air. There was no real need to go exploring further down. It didn't seem worth the risk.

Sans took another sip of his coffee and grimaced when he found it had gotten cold. He put his mug on the table before running a hand over his face.

The biggest problem was the whole 'off limits' thing. Even if Sans tried to explain why he needed to go down there, off limits meant off limits. And besides, who was gonna believe some stupid story about talking flowers poisoning people? _Sans_ didn't even believe it. How was he suppose to explain that his anxiety should be a good enough reason to go looking for some mystery plant? Asking the guard to help would require a lot of official paperwork that would need approval from the king. Not to mention organising, planning, gathering members for a search party, getting each member approval to go, and more red tape than Sans cared to think about. Deep down inside, a sour feeling was pestering him, wondering if Grillby had enough _time_ for all that bureaucracy. It had been three days already. If it _was_ poison, how long could the bartender hold out before things became serious?

The flower's remark on how watching a poisoned monster was 'educational' made Sans physically shudder.

He could go himself. Difficult terrain didn't worry Sans much. Despite his low stats, he didn't think cave bugs would try to mess with him if a string of bones slammed against them or, if needed, a blast of magic. Besides, difficult terrain was easily handled either with bones or just warping. But going by himself was stupid, even if he had no intention of going down far. But who could he ask to go with him? He couldn't ask Undyne. As much as she was into adventure and stupid ideas, she was still the captain of the royal guard. It would be breaking the law. Even if she thought the idea sounded fun, she'd still have an obligation to not only stop him, but also report him, and then he was right back to the first problem of explaining himself and the question of how long Grillby could hold out. This also meant none of the guard dogs could be asked. That didn't leave too many other people. Alphys was out of the question, and the Snowdin residents were not the most sturdy of monsters. They were soft creatures who were trying to live their lives quietly, away from the capital and its crowds. None of them seemed the type to want to go crawling down dark tunnels illegally. The other towns Sans seldom visited, and didn't know anyone in them personally.

The only person Sans could tell who would be eager to go on an adventure down an off limits tunnel and _not_ report him was Papyrus. Sans saw no issues with himself going down tunnels to look for a herb, but the idea of taking Papyrus down there didn't sit well with him. Maybe it was just him being over-protective, or maybe he was worried that Papyrus might get in trouble with the royal guard, who he had been idolising lately, but he didn't want to pull Papyrus into what was admittedly an incredibly dumb idea.

Sans checked his phone again. It was still early. For all his talk of 'not needing to sleep', Papyrus was definitely still in bed and would be for another half hour or so. And if Papyrus was asleep, then the rest of the town was too. If Sans was going to make a decision, he had to do it now.

And yet, Sans still couldn't get himself to commit to the idea. It was just too insane, too reckless. But at the same time, doing nothing was an unacceptable choice as well. He gave a long sigh as he turned and left the kitchen, his feet carrying him to the front door.

The artificial darkness of night was still enveloping the town as Sans pulled the drawstrings of his hoodie a little tighter to shield him against the cold. His breath clouded thickly in front of him as he started walking. He followed the road as it lead out of town, stopping to linger only outside of Grillby's restaurant for a moment. The reddish glow from upstairs was faint, but just seeing it eased a bit of his worries, and replaced them with different ones. Intrusive thoughts about what it would feel like to walk past the building and see no light in the windows at all spurred Sans to start walking again. He forced his attention back to the present, the biting cold, and the sound of his footsteps.

He left the town and wandered through the forest, following paths and trails through the wilder trees. He was heading to the entrance to the Deep Caverns that was easily accessible. He still hadn't decided whether he would actually go inside. He was hoping he would be able to come to some kind of decision during the walk, or at the very least, once the dark cavern was actually in front of him.

The walk took just under an hour, but by the time he was standing in front of the low picket fence cordoning off the crack in the rock, with a sign saying _'Entrance to the Deep Caverns. Please don't go down there. It is pretty dark – a cavern hater'_ Sans was no closer to a decision.

Sans rested his arms over the top of the fence, staring at the cragged hole in front of him. He took in the silence, both from the woods as well as the darkness in front of him. Nothing seemed to suggest there was anything about the caverns below that would make this as bad an idea as Sans knew it was. He tried to still his thoughts, match them with the apparent peacefulness around him, hoping that maybe if he just let his inner conflict quiet down, an easy answer would appear, but he just couldn't. Worry, anxiety, uncertainty, concern, confusion, and apprehension all swirled around inside of his skull as if it was full of liquid, and as hard as he tried, he couldn't get it to stop.

He let out a long sigh, dropping his head against his arms, staring blankly at the spot of snow between his sneakers. He hummed to himself. He had chosen shoes instead of slippers for the day just in case he did decide to go down. Maybe that was enough of a sign that he knew what he should do? And yet it wasn't. It was just one more thing to throw onto the internal debate.

Frustrated with both himself and the situation, Sans turned and leaned his back against the fence, sliding down it until he was sitting and staring at the collection of trees in front of him. The entrance to the Deep Caverns was on higher ground, meaning the slope of landscape gave him a view of the clearing far away where he could pick out the lights from Snowdin. He idly wondered if Papyrus was awake yet. Papyrus would know what to do.

Sans had no delusions regarding his brother's ability to make decisions. Papyrus was just one person, like any other, and made mistakes just as much as anyone else. For all his bravado and outspokenness, Papyrus second guessed himself almost as much as Sans did. Especially about the things that mattered the most to him. If Sans fully explained the situation, he had no idea if Papyrus could decide what to do any easier than he could.

However, maybe that was it. Maybe the fact that Papyrus _didn't_ have all the details meant he would have a better chance to see the big picture. Maybe, without all the confusing ifs and maybes, Papyrus could just cut to the core of this, as Sans wished he himself could right now.

Sans pulled out his phone, unlocking the screen and focusing on the message icon. It was blank at the moment. No new messages. He stared at it for a moment, wondering if dragging Papyrus into this at all was a good idea. 'Accomplice' was a word that kept popping into his head. More importantly, if Sans told Papyrus too much, he would without a doubt want to come too. As much as Sans did not want Papyrus to be a part of this, he also knew that if Papyrus decided to come with him, there was not a single force in the Underground that would stop him. Or rather, Sans probably _could_ keep him out, pin him to the ground with a series of bones, or block the entrance with a wall, but Sans had no intentions of doing so. Besides, despite the idiocy of this whole thing, if Papyrus offered to help, Sans wasn't sure he could even say 'no'. Not for something like this. Just the two of them on an adventure in an off-limits cavern to look for a 'treasure' to help someone? Sans may be lazy, but even he knew the fun of them being reckless together would be too much to resist.

But he needed help. If only to decide what to do if nothing else. Maybe it was shirking off the hard choice and letting someone else make it _for_ him, but the fact remained that Sans was stuck, and no amount of going back and forth on his own was going to unstick him. He needed help, and frankly, there was no one else whose help he could rely on more.

He tapped his screen again, waking it up from its attempt to go back to sleep. He tapped his contacts and scrolled down to 'Cool Dude'.

 

*    yo

 

It took around five minutes before the message was marked 'read' and a reply came back.

 

GOOD MORNING, BROTHER! ARE YOU STILL IN YOUR ROOM? YOU'RE UP EARLY. *

 

Sans smiled despite himself, the familiar feeling of his brother making his response easier than he thought it would be.

 

*    nah. im takin a walk. tryin 2 figure somethn out.

OH? THAT'S UNUSUAL FOR YOU. IT'S REALLY EARLY. DID YOU SLEEP WELL? *

*    not exactly. been kinda stressed tbh. wanna ask ur advice.

 

OF COURSE! THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS ALWAYS HERE TO HELP AND GUIDE ANYONE WHO MAY NEED HELP! BUT. ARE YOU ALRIGHT? WHERE ARE YOU? SHOULD I COME GET YOU? *

 

*    no its ok. im good. kinda.

 

Sans took a deep breath, thinking his next words over carefully before he typed them. Luckily Papyrus was patient and had long ago learned his brothers texting habits. The phone was quiet as Sans typed out his message and hit 'send'.

 

*    grillbz is sick. i think u were right n he went 2 hotland for fire meds or somethn. doesnt sound like he found any tho. someone was talkin to me yesterday. they told me about somethn that might help but i dunno. i cant figure out if i should just let it slide n let grillbz handle himself or wat.

 

There was a pause as the phone displayed the ellipses indicating Papyrus was typing out his reply. It took a while before the message came through, and when it did, it looked to Sans like the message sent wasn't as long as the time it would have taken to type it, making him guess that Papyrus had probably erased and retyped his response several times before sending it.

 

SANS YOU BONEHEAD! YOU'VE GOT IT ALL WRONG! IF YOU KNOW OF SOMETHING THAT CAN HELP WHEN SOMEONE YOU CARE ABOUT IS SICK, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS GO FOR IT!!! *

 

Sans flinched at the silent lecture, but felt himself smile at the same time. He could practically hear Papyrus' tone of voice right next to him. He became somber again, typing out his reply.

 

*    i dunno bro. what if im just being an idiot and hes fine? this thing to help is kind of a pain to get. what if he doesnt need it? thats a lotta effort for nuthin.

 

The reply came back almost as if Papyrus had been anticipating what Sans would say before he even sent it.

 

DON'T BE SO LAZY, SANS! AND IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU'RE BEING AN IDIOT OR NOT! I KNOW YOU'RE WEIRDLY SENSITIVE ABOUT THIS WHOLE BOYFRIEND AND DATING THING, BUT I THINK YOU'RE OVERTHINKING THIS. I DON'T THINK YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT WHETHER GRILLBY WILL BE 'OK WITHOUT IT' OR WHETHER YOU'RE OVERSTEPPING SOME IMAGINARY DATING RULE OR NOT! I'VE READ EVERY DATING RULE THERE IS AND DOING SOMETHING TO HELP SOMEONE WHO IS SICK IS DEFINITELY NOT A DATING TRANSGRESSION! *

 

THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY; EVEN IF GRILLBY IS PERFECTLY FINE WITHOUT YOUR HELP, WOULDN'T HE WANT IT ANYWAY? IF IT WAS YOU AND YOU GOT SICK BECAUSE YOU ATE TOO MUCH OF THAT DISGUSTING GREASE YOU CALL 'FOOD', YOU KNOW YOU'D BE OK AFTER A WHILE! BUT WOULDN'T IT BE NICE IF I DID SOMETHING TO HELP YOU FEEL BETTER ANYWAY? EVEN IF IT DIDN'T STOP YOU FROM BEING SICK, WOULDN'T YOU STILL WANT YOUR THOUGHTFUL BROTHER TO BRING YOU TEA? OR BRING YOU BLANKETS TO KEEP WARM? OR GIVE YOU SOME OF HIS INCREDIBLY POWERFUL AND HEALING HUGS? *

 

Sans hummed to himself out loud, thinking this over. Papyrus did have somewhat of a point. Even if Grillby would be fine without the herb, there was no doubt in Sans' mind that Grillby would be touched by Sans' effort to help. Even if the flower had been lying and the herb was completely useless, just the effort itself would make the bartender happy. Monsters were made up of love and compassion, and Sans' intent would not go unnoticed.

But Papyrus wasn't aware of how _much_ of 'a pain' getting this herb would be. Sans had no intention of telling him, but he knew he couldn't take Papyrus' word wholesale when his brother didn't have all of the details.

 

*    i guess so. but i still dunno. this med thing im lookin for is gonna take some work yanno? i know itll help tho. even if grillbz is fine w/o it itll still help. i kno that. i just dunno about doin the thing 2 actually get it.

 

IF YOU KNOW FOR SURE THIS MEDICINE WILL HELP, HOW COULD YOU EVEN QUESTION IT, BROTHER??? THAT MAKES IT EVEN LESS DIFFICULT! YOU CAN HELP GRILLBY AND I KNOW IT WOULD MAKE HIM HAPPY TOO! *

 

YOU'D BE HIS HERO! *

 

The second message was punctuated by several soul-shaped emojis as well as a complicated ascii emoji that could only be described as 'Papyrus waggling his eyebrows suggestively'. Sans snorted loudly, doubling forward as he laughed, his face flaring blue at the same time. It took a few minutes for him to calm down before he could type back.

 

*    omg bro why

 

NYEHEHEHE! *

 

SERIOUSLY THOUGH, SANS. THINK ABOUT IT THIS WAY; IF YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT GRILLBY, IN ANY WAY AT ALL, AND YOU CAN DO SOMETHING TO HELP HIM WHEN HE'S NOT WELL, WHY ARE YOU LETTING SOMETHING STOP YOU? *

 

Sans had no answer to that. He tried several times to think of some kind of response, but no matter what logic or reason he could come up with, not a single one of them felt strong enough to be able to stand up against 'you're letting something stop you from helping someone you care about.'

 

* i dunno

 

He answered honestly.

 

I KNOW YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT WHAT THE RIGHT THING TO DO IS, BROTHER. I'M NOT THE SKELETON DATING YOUR BOYFRIEND, BUT I KNOW YOU. YOU'RE KINDA LAZY, BUT YOU WOULDN'T LET SOMETHING STAND IN YOUR WAY TO HELP THOSE YOU CARE ABOUT. IF YOU WEREN'T SO DISCOMBOBULATED BY YOUR FEELINGS YOU'D KNOW THAT TOO! YOU'RE JUST LETTING YOUR WEIRD FEELINGS MESS UP YOUR THOUGHTS. *

 

'Or maybe I'm letting my weird feelings talk me into stupid things.' Sans thought to himself. But Papyrus was right. Sans knew deep down that no matter what, he would do anything for the people he cared about. If Papyrus was sick, Sans would blast a hole straight through the barrier if it meant finding something that could help him. And if Grillby was sick... Sans would break any rule and go wandering down any dark tunnel if it meant finding a cure.

When said like that, it sounded so simple. And maybe it was. Maybe it was so simple Sans had just managed to lose sight of it somehow. Or maybe, deep down, Sans knew that regardless of how this conversation had played out, it would always end with him entering the fissure and going down into the dark. After all, someone he cared about needed him. Sans may be lazy, and not always the strongest or most powerful monster, but he would always be the one who tried his best when the chips were down.

He smiled at his phone, as he typed.

 

*    ur right bro. i can at least try right?

 

THAT'S ALL ANYONE COULD ASK FOR, BROTHER! AND APART FROM SLEEPING AND EATING AND MAKING A MESS, TRYING IS THE THING YOU'RE THE BEST AT DOING. *

 

*     heh. thanks bro.

 

Sans stood up, dusting the snow from his pants and jacket before turning back to the fence, pulling open the padlock gate and closing it behind himself again.

 

*    i might be a lil late 2nite. dont wait 4 me to eat dinner ok?

 

I WILL LEAVE SOME LEFTOVERS IN THE FRIDGE FOR YOU WHEN YOU RETURN! I AM GOING TO BE TRYING A NEW LINGUINI RECIPE I FOUND IN THE NEWSPAPER! I DON'T UNDERSTAND ALL OF THE INSTRUCTIONS, BUT I AM A MASTER IMPROVISER!! *

 

*    lookin forward 2 it bro. ttyl. luv u.

 

YOU'VE GOT THIS, SANS! I WILL BE HERE AT HOME, CHEERING FOR YOU! ALTHOUGH YOU WILL NOT HEAR ME! I LOVE YOU TOO! I WILL BE CHEERING THAT AS WELL. *

 

Sans chuckled as he pocketed his phone again, giving the crack one last, scrutinising look before he took a deep breath and walked forward, placing a hand against the wall as he carefully stepped inside. He turned, making sure to visually identify what the entrance looked like from this side of the cavern before he turned and wandered in deeper.

 

* * *

 

Papyrus nodded to himself, proud of his pep talk. It seemed Sans had allowed himself to listen to Papyrus’ advice and was going to get Grillby's medicine. Papyrus wasn't entirely sure how big of a 'pain' something had to be for Sans to be wary of doing it, especially if it could help a loved one, but he figured it was probably more than just travelling to Hotland. He meant what he had said though, and he knew that despite his uncertainty, if Papyrus had told Sans _not_ to get whatever medicine this was and just leave Grillby alone, Sans would have protested and gone anyway. It didn't take that much insight to know Sans had made up his mind well before he'd texted his brother, he just needed that reassurance.

Papyrus beamed to himself as he dug around the fridge for the milk. He was proud of Sans for being such a responsible boyfriend or date mate or whatever word Sans was more comfortable using, but he had to admit he was also proud of himself too. Sans had always been the one who was good at pep talks and reassurances. True, they were usually subtle and involved a lot less ego boosting than his, but Papyrus was eager to try and emulate the effect. Being someone who other monsters thought was cool enough to listen to, and to be someone admired enough to have his opinion matter so much was very important to Papyrus.

He knew that even if the medicine didn't help Grillby's flu or whatever it was, he had still managed to give Sans a push in the right direction as far as 'being a good boyfriend' was concerned. It filled Papyrus with an thrilled energy, and he ate his breakfast faster than usual, eager to find Undyne and hear in what other ways he could help others and be treated as important and worth listening to.

 

* * *

 

He woke up an hour later than usual. However, Grillby felt more rested than he had for days. His bedroom had baked itself warm, now that the roof was insulated again. He had taken the time to tar the whole thing, not only the broken patch. He didn't want a repeat of this whole ordeal a week later when a different part of the roof cracked to some branch or whatever it had been. As such, his home was warmer than it had been in months, as far as he could tell.

He got up and, despite the lost hour, was able to get ready for the day faster than normal thanks to his replenished energy. He did skip a proper breakfast in favour of getting the bar ready, but having been closed for a few days, there wasn't much to clean up. He grabbed a bag of cinnamon bark from his supply closet, snacking hungrily on the wood chips as he returned pots, skillets and the things he had thrown around back to their usual places.

It didn't take long before his flames sparked bright and happy, a warm spiced scent following him as he finally turned the sign in his door back to 'open'.

He had barely made it back behind the bar before the first few customers walked in, greeting him enthusiastically and lamenting with great dramatics about how much they had missed him while he was closed. Grillby waved them off, but glowed at the sentiment. It was a nice reminder of how integrated he was in the town. How his absence, even after only three days or so was not only noticed but actively missed. It also felt good to get back to work. Drinks and food came easily as he took full enjoyment in his cooking. Taking a break always had a way of rekindling Grillby's passion for what he did, as well as the monsters he served, and the community as a whole he counted himself part of.

Not to mention, with his energy back and his bar open again, he suspected it wouldn't be long before Sans would come wandering in, either during his lunch break or just at any random time of the day. Grillby had long since given up trying to figure when Sans' _official_ lunch break was. The skeleton seemed to have more lunch breaks than he had actual time at work. Not that Grillby minded. Every break meant some time they could enjoy in each other's company, even if Grillby was working. Just having the bag of bones seated in his usual spot, grinning widely at him every time he walked past, or placing every order for food or drinks with a terrible pun, or napping in one of the booths, or simply staying behind well after closing hours was enough to warm Grillby's core down to soul-level.

He waved at a customer in acknowledgement when they called for an order of fries. He focused on the task of cooking the meal, only slightly annoyed by the missing spice he couldn't find in Hotland. But if a missing ingredient for fries was his biggest worry, then things really weren't that bad at all.

His flames danced along his head as he smiled to himself, rosey colours crackling along his form as he wondered if Sans would be brave enough to stay over tonight if Grillby asked him. With the way he felt now, Grillby was willing to risk it, even if all he got in response was a flustered sputtering skeleton blushing the colour of an echo flower and glowing just as brightly. That was almost as good a reward... although staying the night would definitely be preferred.

Either way, he was eager to see his friend again. Regardless of what they ended up doing together, it was going to be a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With an amazing thank you to Skerb for helping me as always, not only with the editing and proof reading of this... whatever it is, but ALSO for listening to my insecure whining and crying as I try to figure out "what even is writing???" I really appreciate it so much <3
> 
> Guys... writing is so hard. It's SO HARD. How do you guys even do this???


	5. Disconnect

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans gets more exercise than he's had in the last 6 years. Grillby's finally reopens but it feels like something's missing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the unprompted hiatus on the fic, guys. I hit a bit of a "I know what happens next but writing it is hard" block, and then I moved house. I could also complain that writing doesn't come super naturally to me X'D I'm not as good a writer as I am an artist. OTL but thank you to those who are still interested in this story, and for those of you who pressured me to get back to it. This also took a while because I wanted to write a longer chapter than I have been so far to keep the plot moving... that may have backfired a little.

Well, it was dark. That much Sans had expected. More than that he wasn't sure what he'd been picturing.

Stray thistles and brown mushrooms dotted the thin layer of snow carried in by the breeze. For a while the cavern seemed no different from outside apart from the lack of light, but after a few minutes of walking the weeds, snow, and mushrooms petered out, leaving Sans with nothing but sand and rock.

Sans focused on the job of trying to find this plant. The photos he had looked through endlessly the previous night showed that the plant's spots of cyan gave off a faint glow. With nothing else in the tunnel giving off light, he hoped it would make spotting it easier and he could head back to Grillby's bar as quick as possible. He wasn't having much luck, but he didn't dwell on it. He wasn't so naive as to think he was the first person to risk coming down here looking for it.

He was expecting the Deeper Caverns to be dry. He had been picturing a world of rock and dust, but it was turning out to be pretty humid. After only ten minutes of walking, the temperature was notably higher than outside, and there was a sticky feeling to the air. It made Sans think of the vents in Hotland pumping out steam. This wasn't as extreme, but it was the only comparison Sans had to go by. 'Humid' was not a common occurrence under the mountain. Luckily for him, Sans was never really bothered by extreme temperature. He could go to Hotland and keep his hoodie on without it bugging him. Still, the thick feeling in the air was a new sensation, and it didn't take long for Sans to decide he disliked it.

The rock-face on either side of him was slick, but Sans couldn't tell where it was coming from or if it was simply from the moisture in the air. The narrow corridor was just starting to become claustrophobic when it widened up and he was relieved to find himself walking through a larger cavern. However, apart from the stalactites and stalagmites, it didn't seem much different from where he had just come from.

Sans let out a frustrated sigh, looking around. The open area was about the size of the librarby, the columns of rock creating a thousand and one small nooks and crannies. He tried to do a rough guess of how long it would take him to search the entire space without missing anything but gave up, settling for 'long'. He leaned against the nearest column, hands in his pockets as he made a noise to himself, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden realisation of just how much work this was going to be. He mentally scoffed at his own naivety, asking himself what exactly he had been expecting. Whether he really thought he could walk inside and find what he was looking for just waiting to be picked.

He ran a hand over his face, grumbling under his breath. The air was warm and sticky, he was already starting to feel annoyed with this place and the idea of doing a job he could just _feel_ was going to me physically taxing was quickly draining whatever enthusiasm he had about this little adventure. He was starting to question if this was pointless, and whether he was really going to accomplish anything crawling around in the dirt looking for a weed. He didn't even know if Grillby really needed it! This could all be some giant practical joke the flower concocted just to see if he could trick Sans into doing it! And he fell for it.

He let out a loud huff and slid down to a sit, staring at the seemingly monumental task in front of him, wiping the back of his hand against his brow in a futile attempt to clean away the feeling of clinging moisture.

He dug around in his pocket until he found his phone. He wanted to give up and go back home. Honestly, there was nothing that sounded more inviting right now. But the anxiety and worry over his friend was still gnawing away at his gut, and Sans' better nature knew that if he allowed himself to give up and not go through with this, he was going to regret it later. Most likely after dark when he was alone in bed and trying to sleep. As much as Sans disliked the idea of digging in the dirt, the thought of lying alone in the dark, hating himself, was so much worse.

He tapped on his chat history. Grillby had been the last person to talk and Sans realised that, in his borderline panic to get back to town, he never answered him.

 

I am going to retire early this evening, however. I have still been sleeping poorly and I hope that tonight I can finally get some proper rest. I will hopefully see you tomorrow at the restaurant, however. *

 

Sans winced, re-reading the words over to himself multiple times. 'going to bed early.' 'I haven't been sleeping well.' 'I hope I can get some rest'. The message read like a normal conversation, but somehow Grillby's subdued complaints made something in Sans ache. Grillby was a quiet monster. Not just due to his reluctance to talk out loud, but even when he communicated, he was reserved and seemed to hold back. Sans could understand this. Sans had a reputation in town as the entertaining comedian who was everyone's friend and fun to be around, but that's because the things that _really_ mattered were kept private. Some things were not meant to be said to anyone besides the people closest to you. And some things were not meant to be said to anyone at all. Sans got it. He knew that sometimes a comment to redirect a topic or a slight twisting of words was nothing personal. It was just a way to keep the things that mattered safe and to yourself. No harm done. No offense meant.

So to see Grillby, the flame that barely ever spoke at all, quietly admit that he was tired and not feeling great hit something deep within Sans. He knew Grillby and him were pretty close, and judging by Grillby's behaviour, both subtle and not subtle, it was obvious Grillby wanted to be even closer, but Sans had no way of knowing how the bartender considered him right now. The two of them hadn't really talked about it. There had been no reason to. When they were together it was all good natured jokes, or small teases, or physical touches that lingered a little longer than they use to. Even when Grillby was in a mood to rile Sans up and say something to get him flustered, it always felt like a game. Even when Sans was blushing furiously and throwing couch cushions at the laughing flame for being such a damn flirt who purposefully said things just to weird him out, it felt fun. It was fun. They enjoyed spending time together. They enjoyed joking around. Sans enjoyed Grillby's teasing comments about bones and turning up the heat, even if he knew it was just to get a reaction out of him. He enjoyed feeling flustered and mortified and weirdly intrigued.

 _'What am I to you? How close do you consider me?'_ These were not fun questions. Asking them would not make for a fun time. Sans wasn't even sure how Grillby would react if he brought it up. Confused, most likely. Maybe he would laugh and brush the topic off without answering. Maybe he would be uncomfortable. Maybe he would answer and the answer wasn't what Sans wanted to hear.

He didn't know.

He looked at the message again. Grillby's careful remarks about feeling tired. Unwell. Wanting sleep. Needing to rest. How desperate was the bartender, really, to let little comments like that slip? Sans' eyes travelled to the last sentence, focusing in on it better. 'I hope I'll see you tomorrow'.

Sans let out a sigh, realising his breathing had been a little tight. He typed out a reply, hoping Grillby was awake by now.

 

* hey g. sorry 4 ghosting u. im doin a lil recon 4 some meds to help u out with the bug u caught. Im gonna b back a lil l8er tonite. Ill prob swing by ur place even if I dont find wat im lookin 4. take it easy ok? ttyl

 

He hit 'send' and pocketed his phone, his attention dragged back to the cavern and the job in front of him. He slumped with a groan, staring at it for a few minutes before he gathered himself up, dragged himself back to his feet and resigning himself. He had already bothered to walk all this way, he might as well give it a shot. He shrugged off his hoodie and placed it on a nearby stalagmite, rolling a shoulder as he walked forward, heading for a cluster of rock that looked promising to start his search.

The 'failed to send' error on his phone wasn't even noticed.

 

* * *

 

Grillby was disappointed, to say the least. There hadn't been any sign of Sans the entire day. He hadn't expected to see him with the morning rush, but when lunch time came and went without so much as a quick hello, Grillby was starting to feel a little ignored.

He had checked his phone when it was becoming clear Sans wasn't going to visit during his lunch break, but the last message between them had been Grillby saying he had been busy the whole day and was going to bed early. It had been marked 'seen' but there was no reply. Sans sometimes read messages and replied to them later when the urge struck him, but Grillby wasn't sure if this was the same thing. Sans had asked him if he was ok since he'd missed a few messages while fixing the roof. It was a little out of character for Sans to worry when he wasn't responded to right away, and Grillby guessed that maybe his lack of sleep and the bar being closed for more than a day had made his friend anxious. However, for Sans to not reply when Grillby told him he was fine seemed weird, even for Sans.

Grillby stared at the burger patties sizzling in front of him as he tried to make sense of it. A small part of him wondered if Sans was annoyed with him for some reason. Grillby had a good deal of experience with being deliberately ignored when the person he was trying to speak to felt he had done something wrong. Even if whatever he had done was a mystery to him, the cold shoulder was a pretty effective way to get him to apologise for whatever he might have done to upset the other and at least get things back to normal. Grillby had learned to be very careful with his words as a result.

But Sans wasn't like that, he told himself. If anything Sans was the complete opposite. The skeleton, despite his easy-going nature and absolute dedication to avoiding conflict at all costs, was often very quick to hint when something was annoying him or if someone was treading on thin ice. Maybe it was exactly _because_ Sans avoided conflict that he readily gave someone early warnings to stop doing or saying something that bugged him. Deliberately ignoring messages as a punishment was so far from Sans' style and personality Grillby couldn't picture the skeleton behaving that way if he tried.

But then again, Sans _did_ do a lot of avoiding. Not just avoiding conflict and arguments, but he avoided a lot of things and situations, and as Grillby had gotten closer to him, he had been exposed to more and more things his friend preferred to keep away from rather than face. It had taken Grillby a _lot_ of time and patience to ease Sans into a more romantically charged relationship. Grillby didn't think they had gotten to 'being together' yet, but he had managed to get past 'Sans teleports out of the room as soon as he gets too flustered' at least.

Sans avoided uncomfortable situations. When arguments broke out in the bar over whatever a rowdy customer was annoyed with this month, Sans avoided giving an opinion or getting involved when Grillby asked the guards to escort the patron home. When Sans looked more tired than usual or seemed quiet and stuck in his own head, he avoided explaining it. When Grillby had first started slipping casual flirts into their conversations and jokes, Sans avoided acknowledging them apart from a faint blush. And when Grillby had finally managed to make his attraction very clear one evening, when Sans had been his last customer apart from Dizzy snoring in one of the booths, Grillby saying Sans' meal was on the house that day, and gathering the courage to add _'sometimes your presence is payment enough. In fact, I'd be very happy to see you more.'_ Sans had avoided answering by flushing bright blue and teleporting away.

It had taken two days before Sans showed his face in the restaurant again, by which time Grillby had started reprimanding himself for being too forward, or possibly even pushing feelings onto his friend that he may not want and possibly did not enjoy. But Sans came back, wandering into the bar as if nothing had happened, ordering his usual and joking around with a crowd of friends who were all too happy to see him again, begging for his jokes and company. Sans avoided mentioning Grillby's confession. Grillby had taken it as a hint and stopped his casual flirting and sideways glances, burying himself back into his work and offering the skeleton the level of friendship they had before.

Sans avoided acknowledging the change. For a whole week, before he one evening stayed a little longer than normal. As Grillby started cleaning tables, his back to Sans, the skeleton out of nowhere said one sentence;

_'kinda miss the special attention, g.'_

Grillby had turned to him, flames crackling erratically to mirror the sudden perplexion he felt. Sans had avoided meeting his eyes, scratching at his jaw and fiddling with his straw.

Grillby had put down the tray of dirty glasses, turning to face him properly, fully aware his flames were sparking and burning a bright yellow as he blushed.

 _'...Sorry,'_ was all he could think to say, unsure of what Sans was trying to imply.

But instead of explaining himself, his friend avoided elaborating. He merely gave Grillby a wide grin as he hopped off the barstool and strode to the exit.

_'just lettin' you know... you don't have to quit so quickly, y'know?'_

Sans had left the restaurant before Grillby could respond.

Bolstered by the not-quite-encouragement, Grillby tentatively resumed his more flirtatious comments, often disguising them in word play and double entendres which had the double effect of getting Sans to laugh as well as blush. Grillby had thought that, with the admission from Sans that he wasn't put-off, his friend would make some move of his own to show if he was interested, but Sans avoided instigating any playful interactions on his own, and it had fallen on Grillby to steer conversations towards light teasing and a risque comment or two. Only then did Sans seem willing to add some of his own. And it had also been up to Grillby to, once again, mention he would like to see more of Sans. The second time was luckily more successful. Although, through a thick flush, Sans had merely replied ' _ok'_ before practically running out of the bar. Grillby had to be the one to ask him one evening if he wanted to help clean up after the bar closed and that there would be a cup of free coffee in it for Sans if he said yes.

The word 'date' was never used, and Grillby suspected that was the only reason Sans agreed (even if 'help clean up the bar' ended up with Sans merely supervising and occasionally using his magic to put a glass or two on the higher shelves.)

Somehow, Grillby managed to slowly chip away at whatever walls Sans had hid himself behind, eventually getting the skeleton to stay overnight (although it had taken more than one offer.) It hadn't been very eventful, and yet Sans looked more nervous than Grillby had ever seen him in all the years they had known each other. Sans had sat on the couch, hands planted firmly in his hoodie pockets and knees tightly drawn together, looking as if he expected the room to eat him.

Avoidance was Sans’ Modus Operandi in everything he seemed to do, romantic or not. But being closer to someone seemed to bring it out stronger than before. Sans was a different person sitting on Grillby's couch and gripping a cup of tea like he might crack it than he was lounging back on a barstool, quipping at the nearest customer and causing the rest of the room to laugh or groan, both reactions always encouraging him to keep it up.

Sans wouldn't use silence as a punishment to make Grillby feel guilty about something. But Sans would avoid Grillby if there was something else making him uncomfortable. But Grillby couldn't think of anything he said that would have scared off his friend. The longer the day had gone without any sign of him, the more Grillby had gotten lost in his thoughts, running the last time he had seen Sans over in his mind, trying to pinpoint something that might have been taken the wrong way. When the bar had grown quiet, he had re-read their texts from the last few days, but apart from telling Sans he hadn't been sleeping well and that he couldn't spend time with him, nothing stuck out.

Maybe Sans was avoiding him because of that? Re-reading his texts, Grillby noticed he had never actually explained about the roof. It hadn't seemed important at the time. Now he wondered if maybe Sans had misunderstood and thought Grillby wanted to be alone or something.

The sudden stench of burning fat snapped Grillby from his thoughts and he crackled several curses to himself as he snatched the burning patties off the grill with his bare hands. It was too late, however, as smoke curled off the burgers and clouded the kitchen. The bartender swore as he tossed the charred food into the barely-used sink and hurried to open a window. The sudden blast of cold air fanned his flames and he briefly flared up, sending embers in a flurry around him. He gave his arms a hard shake to rid himself of the excess fire before he sighed, putting his hands on his hips and looking at the ruined order. It had been the second time that day he had made a mistake and had to start over.

He shook his head, annoyed with himself as he exited the kitchen and went back behind the bar.

“Everything ok in there, Grillby?” The Red Bird at the bar asked, looking caught between amusement and concern.

Grillby kept his expression neutral, merely signing his reply with a few simply gestures.

“ _Sorry. Order, accident. New order, wait please.”_

“A little distracted today, huh?” The bird's fish-monster companion chuckled.

“No worries, I don't mind waiting,” Red Bird waved the issue away, “but I gotta ask, are you ok?”

Grillby gave his customer a nod, turning to head back to the kitchen but Red Bird called after him.

“Has Sans been around today?”

Grillby turned back, blinking in honest surprise. He shook his head.

“Weird. You've been closed for so long you'd think he'd chain himself to a booth to make sure it doesn't happen again or something,” Red Bird commented, giving Grillby a look.

The fish monster gave a blubbling laugh.”Trouble in paradise?”

Grillby pointedly ignored him, turning his full attention to Red Bird instead.

“ _Haven't seen.”_

Red Bird hummed, resting his head on a wing as he seemed to think this over. “That doesn't seem right. Did you two argue or something?”

The fish monster gave another laugh but Grillby pretended not to hear him, a trick learned from years of being everyone's soundboard as 'the bartender'.

“ _No argue. Sans, no show. Don't know why.”_

“Well, have you _asked_ him?” Red Bird sighed, sinking further in his seat.

Grillby said nothing, merely standing rooted in place for a few minutes before he turned to head back to the kitchen, pulling his phone out in the process. He heard the fish monster snicker and Red Bird telling him to give it a rest as he closed the door behind him.

He leaned against the shut door as he tapped out a message, feeling a little stupid for putting it off. He had considered texting Sans himself, but he got himself caught in a loop of uncertainty on whether it was the right thing to do or not, or if mentioning Sans' absence so bluntly would be pushing his luck. But the way Red Bird had said it, as if it was the easiest and most obvious thing in the world, made Grillby feel a little ashamed of himself. When had he allowed himself to become so uncertain about talking things out?

He scoffed at the thought. Not talking things out was his _own_ modus operandi. In fact not talking period was his preferred way of interacting with people. But he couldn't be this way with Sans. Grillby was the one who needed to steer things. Sans had proven time and again that he was not a person who was going to do anything that could rock the boat. Not unless pushed. And if they both refused to talk to each other, then nothing was going to get anywhere.

Besides, Grillby liked to think Sans enjoyed his pushing. The more Grillby did it, the more Sans responded positively anyway. Maybe he was at home, overthinking this just as much as Grillby was, and waiting for some kind of sign that things were ok.

 

  
* I haven't seen you at the bar. Was it clear that I was opening again today? I'm not sure if I mentioned that properly. Sorry about the confusion. I would be very happy if you came to say hello.

 

After thinking it over for a moment, Grillby added;

 

* Don't let the 'closed' sign bother you if you come home late.

 

He waited until both messages were sent before he put his phone away and focused back on cooking another couple of burgers. He really should have texted sooner. He made a decision to himself as he cooked that he had to stop being so uncertain about all of this and communicate better. He needed to let Sans know what he meant when he spoke, and what his intentions were. He needed to stop just assuming Sans somehow knew everything he was thinking and feeling. He knew his friend well enough by now to know that even if he avoided things, Sans was a monster that cared about other people's feelings. If Grillby spoke his mind better, Sans wouldn't shut him out or push him away. He may not open up with his own feelings, but Grillby knew he would listen.

Feeling better, Grillby put the topic out of his mind for now, focusing instead on not ruining any more orders for the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

Sans dropped to a sit with a long exhale. He was dripping with sweat and both his phalanges and the front of his shirt were covered in dirt. But there had been no sign of any herb. There had been mushrooms, moss, and some other fungi, but nothing helpful. He leaned back against the rock-face, grimacing as his spine popped audibly and a dull ache settled in his hips. He had no idea how long he had been searching, but it felt like days. He gave a huff and leaned backwards to reach into his hoodie and pull out his phone.

The time on his phone told him that he had missed lunch completely and by the looks of things even if he gave up searching right now, the time it would take to get out of the cavern and back home meant he was going to miss dinner as well. Unless Papyrus broke his lifetime streak of having food on the table the exact same time every night. Sans could practically see him, sitting at the table, untouched food in front of him as his fingers tap irritably against his crossed arms, waiting for Sans to get back so they could eat like civilised monsters for once.

Sans sighed, unlocking his phone. He paused as he was about to message that he was heading home. Just as he had a vision of Papyrus sitting irritably at the table, he had another image pop into his head of Grillby, lying under the covers in his home, burning dimly as he slept. Sans imagined what the state of his friend's fire must be by now. Would it have kindled a little brighter with some rest? Or would Sans walk past the restaurant and see the faint reddish glow from the window burning a little dimmer that yesterday? Would there even still be a glow?

Sans gave himself a mix of a shake and a shudder at the intrusive thought. Worry was making him act rash and he knew it, but every time it felt like his logic was finally getting him to see reason, his fears would make him picture the worst case scenario. He turned back to his phone, using it to focus away from the lingering thoughts of how bad Grillby was doing. He frowned when he finally noticed the error notice on the text icon and opened it to see his message to Grillby hadn't been delivered.

For a split second he felt like the bottom dropped out of his metaphorical stomach before his eyelights flitted to the small 'no signal' message in the corner of the screen. The error was on his side, not Grillby's. He gave a dragged out sigh, sinking further down and raking his fingertips over the top of his skull.

“what're you doin', sans?” He shook his head at himself, looking back down at his phone. He tapped 'retry' despite knowing it would fail. He rubbed at his jaw with the back of his other hand, lifting his gaze to the cavern around him.

This wasn't going to work. It was getting late, he was alone, nobody knew where he was, Papyrus was going to worry if he took too long, and there was not one single sign that the herb even grew in this cavern. Sitting in the dark, covered in dirt and worn out from a pointless search, Sans almost physically felt the moment he simply gave up.

He wasn't going to find this thing. At least not alone, and not like this. He needed help. He'd go back home, explain to Papyrus what he'd been trying to do, and then the two of them would go to Undyne for help. No doubt she'd have some kind of punishment for Sans going behind her back like this, maybe suplex him or, heaven forbid, tell him to run a lap or something. But Sans didn't really care right at that moment. Undyne would be angry, but she would also help. Maybe she would need to talk to the king first, maybe it would take a day or so, maybe there would be red tape that needed clearing, but Undyne and her guard dogs would help.

Sans just hoped it would be quick. Maybe he could stay with Grillby while they waited. Make sure he was ok. Try to help in some other way. Make sure he was eating. Make sure he kept... burning.

Sans stared blankly at the space in front of him as his thoughts consumed him, wallowing in defeat, when something caught his attention. He lifted his head out of the hand he'd propped it in, his attention snapping back to the present.

At the far end where the cavern continued deeper into the mountain, he caught the flicker of movement. Unsure if it was his imagination or light reflecting off something, he stood up, fumbling for his hoodie as he kept his eyes on the spot he thought he had seen something. There was a second where he held his breath, listening intently, before he caught the unmistakable noise of something moving. There was a faint, blue-tinted flicker against the distant rock as something travelled in the opposite direction.

Sans tugged his hoodie from its resting place and headed after it, already panting as his joints reminded him they'd already seen more than their share of exercise for the week.

“hey!” He called after the noise, seeing the light travel further down the tunnel into the darkness. “hey buddy! wait up, will ya?!”

He cleared the open space and skidded around the corner. Ahead he could make out the distant shape of a figure. It was difficult to distinguish in the dark, but the light that travelled with it was clearly being carried, and that only meant one thing. Someone else was down here. Someone else had broken the rules and entered the Deep Caverns. Sans wasn't sure what he was expecting from them. Maybe he was just surprised to see someone and automatically wanted some answers, or maybe his hopeless mindset had him desperate for something else to focus on. Maybe he thought this other monster could tell him where to look. He didn't know, but Sans hobbled after them regardless, stuffing his phone back into his pocket as he pushed Papyrus, Grillby and Undyne out of his mind for now.

 

* * *

 

Still no reply from Sans.

Grillby had cleaned and put away the last of the day's dishes, the closing duties of the restaurant now officially done. He idled in the kitchen, absentmindedly checking the clock against the wall before pulling out his phone for about the twelfth time.

No reply. And by the looks of it, Sans hadn't even seen his latest text.

Outside, monsters were walking home and bidding each other good evening. The temperature was dropping and a slight breeze was picking up. There may not have been a sun to mark the end of a day, but it was as if the wind and air in the magically charged cave knew exactly what time it was, and were doing their best to behave accordingly.

Grillby walked back to the main restaurant to stare out the window. After fidgeting with his phone for a few minutes, he turned its screen back on and navigated to Sans number. He hesitate only for a brief moment before he hit 'call'.

He waited. For all of a few seconds before the automated voice informed him the number he had dialed was not available. The phone hadn't rung once.

Grillby's normally guarded expression furrowed as he glared at the screen, as if the obsequious robot voice would feel ashamed for failing him. He then stuffed it into his pocket before turning to stare down the empty room. He leaned back on the low window-sill, letting out a long breath that was punctuated by the smallest wisp of smoke. He ran a hand through the flames on his head, stoking them for a moment.

At least the lack of ringing eased his worries over the unread message. Sans had obviously forgotten to charge his phone. Again. However that didn't explain his absence at the restaurant. It would have been impossible to miss the fact that it was open again. Patrons had filled the place to bursting, having missed it during the very brief closure. Not to mention Sans had to walk past the place from his house to his sentry station. And even if he was in Waterfall or The Hotlands today, Snowdin was a small town in a small Underground. The likeliness that he would have somehow missed the reopening was next to impossible.

Grillby found himself climbing the stairs to his apartment two at a time as he mulled all this over. He jerked open his closet and grumbling went about removing his waistcoat, bow-tie and sleeve garters, replacing them with a thick, rust coloured scarf and a black overcoat.

As he locked up he felt frustrated, caught between concern and annoyance and unable to decide which emotion to focus on. Luckily the bite of the evening chill was strong enough to occupy his attention as he pulled up his collar, speeding up to the wooden building near the end of town.

He wasn't sure what he was going to say when he saw Sans. Maybe he would just grumble 'charge your phone' and leave. Honestly, the thought was tempting, but he would feel better if the two of them could try and figure out where this sudden confusion had come from. Grillby didn't expect Sans to be much good at an actual adult conversation, but he was hoping Sans would at the very least listen. The two of them hadn't had many serious talks before, but something in Grillby was willing to believe that if he was clear that this was important, Sans would hear him out. That is, _if_ Sans was even home. If not... then Grillby could start thinking about feeling concerned.

He tapped the snow off his shoes on the porch before he knocked. There was a moment of silence before the door flew open and Papyrus filled the doorway. The skeleton seemed confused, but upon seeing Grillby he broke into a wide grin.

“OH! HELLO GRILLBY!! I'M GLAD YOU'RE FEELING BETTER ENOUGH TO WEAR SOME NICE DATE ATTIRE!!!”

Grillby blinked several times at this before blurting out a _“What??”_ too caught off guard to even think of signing.

Papyrus seemed unphased, looking him up and down in obvious assessment. “A LITTLE DULL AS FAR AS COLOURS GO, BUT IT'S STILL MORE OF AN EFFORT SANS HAS EVER SHOWN!! I'VE TRIED MY BEST TO WRESTLE HIM INTO A PROPER ROMANTIC ENSEMBLES WHENEVER HE GOES TO THAT GREASE-TRAP OF A RESTAURANT YOU OWN, BUT IT SEEMS THE ONLY TIME SANS IS FAST ON HIS FEET IS WHEN HE SEES A TIE!!”

Grillby stood on the porch, struck silent as he just let Papyrus' babbling wash over him, too confused to know where or how to interrupt.

“THEN AGAIN I GUESS THIS ISN'T YOUR BEST LIAISON OUTFIT EITHER!! BUT DON'T WORRY!! SANS INFORMED ME THAT YOU HAVEN'T BEEN FEELING WELL!! SO I UNDERSTAND NOT DRESSING UP! BUT IT _IS_ GOOD TO SEE YOU WALKING AROUND AT LEAST!!”

 _“...Sans told you I was sick?”_ Grillby latched onto the bit of information like a lifeline, desperate to get some thread of logic going.

Papyrus nodded sagely. “HE WAS VERY CONCERNED!! BUT I ENCOURAGED HIM TO HELP YOU!! AS USUAL, I'M GLAD TO SEE MY WISE COUNSEL FIXED THINGS!! WHERE IS SANS, EXACTLY?? HE DIDN'T BRING YOUR MEDICINE AND IMMEDIATELY FALL ASLEEP ON YOUR COUCH, DID HE??”

 _“...He's not here?”_ Grillby shifted where he stood. He really wanted to switch back to signing. He had never really spoken to Sans' brother at length before, but having immediately fallen to speaking out loud he now felt awkward about trying to switch back to signing halfway through the conversation.

Papyrus stopped his ongoing speech and looked about as confused as Grillby felt. “I THOUGHT HE WAS WITH YOU???”

Grillby shook his head. _“...Haven't seen him today. I tried calling but I think his phone is out of battery.”_

Papyrus gave a loud scoff and planted his hands on his hips. “I HAVE TOLD HIM HUNDREDS OF TIMES TO CHARGE IT WHEN HE'S ASLEEP!! HE CERTAINLY HAS ENOUGH OPPERTUNITIES!!”

Papyrus snapped his attention back to Grillby, “WAIT A MINUTE!! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN HIM, THEN YOU'RE NOT FEELING BETTER FROM HIS MEDICINE???”

 _“.........Is that a... euphimism for something or...?”_ Grillby's flames crackled erratically for a second.

“NO, OF COURSE NOT!! SANS SAID HE WAS GETTING SOMETHING TO MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER! HE SEEMED VERY COMMITTED TO THE IDEA TOO!! I THOUGHT YOU'D COME OVER TO LET ME KNOW HE'D SUCCEEDED!” Suddenly Papyrus' hands flew to his mouth with a gasp. “UNLESS YOU'RE NOT ACTUALLY FEELING BETTER????”

_“...Papyrus, I'm quite alright. I was just-”_

“WHERE ARE MY MANNERS???” Papyrus grabbed Grillby by the arms and before the fire monster could do so much as protest, the surprisingly strong skeleton had half-yanked, half-picked him up into the house itself.

“I AM SO SORRY!! YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD ME SOONER YOU HAVEN'T FULLY RECOVERED!!! WOULD YOU LIKE SOMETHING TO DRINK??? OR... OR MAYBE JUST HOLD IF YOU CAN'T EXACTLY DRINK???”

Grillby waved him off as politely as he could while trying to catch his balance. _“...Appreciate it, but it's alright, Papyrus.”_

“IT DEFINITELY ISN'T!!!” Papyrus insisted. He took a step towards Grillby, stopped, seemed to have a new thought entirely, and then promptly hurried to the kitchen where a series of clangs and the sound of dropped cutlery went off.

Grillby stood abandoned. He gave his head a brief shake, trying to recover from the experience that was Papyrus, before he followed after him into the kitchen. He immediately regretted it.

Grillby would have liked to believe the brothers' kitchen wasn't _always_ this much of a disaster, but he had no evidence to back that up. From what he had heard from Sans, the current mess of noodles, pasta sauce, and the overwhelming smell of onion was Papyrus' doing, But Grillby had never once in his life seen Sans clean anything either. So he had nothing but shaky faith to go on that, maybe at _some_ point, the kitchen didn't always look like a bomb had gone off.

Papyrus was busy filling a kettle with water. Grillby immediately pulled himself together and stepped into the kitchen proper.

 _“Papyrus. I do appreciate the effort, but I really am perfectly fine,”_ He tilted his head very slightly towards the kettle. _“...Water, boiling or not, will not be helpful, even if I wasn't.”_

Papyrus blinked at him, turned to the filling kettle in his hands, and then seemed to give up as he sighed and put it down. “I SUPPOSE NOT.” He recovered quickly. “THE EXPERT FRIEND PAPYRUS WILL JUST HAVE TO THINK OF ANOTHER WAY TO BE THE EXPERT HOST!!”

He turned his attention back to Grillby. “YOU'RE REALLY OK?? YOU'RE NOT JUST BEING POLITE??”

 _“I really am ok,”_ Grillby said, starting to feel exasperated.

“HMM,” Papyrus cupped his chin in a hand, frowning at nothing in particular. “THAT'S VERY STRANGE...”

_“Am I... not supposed to be?”_

“OH!! NO NO, OF COURSE I AM VERY GLAD YOU'RE FINE!!!” Papyrus waved his hands placatingly. “I AM... JUST A LITTLE CONFUSED WHY SANS WOULD INSIST YOU WEREN'T.”

 _“...What exactly did Sans say?”_ Grillby turned, unable to bear the sight of a destroyed kitchen any longer.

Papyrus trotted after him to the living room. “SANS SAID THE LAST TIME HE SAW YOU, YOU WERE TIRED AND MENTIONED YOU HADN'T BEEN SLEEPING!! HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT IT, ESPECIALLY SINCE YOUR RESTAURANT WAS CLOSED FOR A FEW DAYS!”

Grillby hummed at this. True, he had been a little run down, both from the leak as well as the whole Hotland trip, but he hadn't thought it looked bad enough to be mistaken for illness.

At the thought, he met Papyrus' eyesockets again. _“...I Did mention I went to Hotland for ingredients.”_

“YES!! I ASSUMED IF YOU WERE SICK YOU'D PROBABLY FIND FIRE MEDICINE THERE!!” Papyrus answered, looking nothing but sincere.

The flames on Grillby's head fluttered for a moment. _“...Did you tell Sans that?”_

“OF COURSE I DID!!! HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU!! I MADE SURE TO REASSURE HIM THAT SURELY WHAT YOU'D NEED TO GET BETTER WOULD BE THERE AND YOU'D GONE TO GET IT!!!”

Grillby gave a drawn out sigh, pinching where the bridge of his nose would be. _“And what did Sans think?”_

Papyrus' chest puffed out only the smallest amount. “HE WAS RELEAVED, OF COURSE!!!” He deflated again. “WELL... FOR A WHILE. HE TEXTED ME THIS MORNING SAYING HE WAS VERY CONCERNED BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T FIND WHAT YOU WERE LOOKING FOR!”

 _“...Didn't...?”_ Something clicked in Grillby's head. _“...I told him I hadn't found what I was looking for...”_

Papyrus nodded, a brief grin flashing across his face. “HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU...”

 _“Yes, you mentioned,”_ Grillby huffed, looking around the room as if expecting Sans to appear and explain himself, before he focused back on Papyrus. _“...Where is he? You said you thought he was with me, but I haven't seen him since...”_ He stopped, running the time over in his head. Had it really been three days? _“...since before I had my roof tended to.”_

Papyrus either missed or didn't dwell on Grillby's expression as he pulled out his phone and, after some fevered tapping, answered. “HE TEXTED ME THIS MORNING SAYING HE'D FOUND SOMETHING TO HELP YOU! BUT HE WAS BEING HIS USUAL LAZY SELF AND DIDN'T WANT TO PUT IN TOO MUCH EFFORT TO FIND WHATEVER IT WAS!! NATURALLY, BEING THE GREAT BROTHER THAT I AM, I MANAGED TO CONVINCE HIM YOU'D APPRECIATE THE HELP, EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T STRICTLY NEED IT.”

Suddenly, Papyrus threw his hands to his head with a cry of alarm, startling Grillby so badly he almost burned a hole in the carpet. “OH NO!!!! I'VE RUINED THE SURPRISE!!!! UHM!!! FORGET THAT LAST PART!!!! OF WHAT SANS WAS DOING TODAY!!!! HE UHM... HE'S JUST.... BUSY!!!” Papyrus groaned and put his face in one of his hands, shoulders drooping. “OH, NOW I'VE RUINED THIS WHOLE THING WITH MY WAYWARD GOSSIPING!! GRILLBY!! PLEASE, I IMPLORE YOU!!! WHEN MY BROTHER RETURNS WITH HIS MEDICINE, PLEASE ACT SURPRISED!!! SANS RARELY MAKES AN EFFORT FOR ANYTHING AND I REALLY WANT TO ENCOURAGE THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOUR!!! BESIDES, IT WAS ENTIRELY MOTIVATED BY AFFECTION FOR YOU!! AND I KNOW IT WOULD MAKE HIM HAPPY TO THINK HE'D PULLED OFF THIS LITTLE SCHEME OF HIS!!!”

Grillby wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that, so he merely nodded. _“...Of Course. But right now I'm more concerned about where he is. Did he say where he was going?”_

Papyrus scrolled through his phone for a moment. “HE DOESN'T MENTION ANYWHERE SPECIFIC, ONLY THAT IT WAS, QUOTE, 'A PAIN' AND THAT HE'D BE BACK LATE!”

That made Grillby feel better. _“...I see. So, in the end I suppose I was concerned for nothing.”_ He shook his head, putting his hands in his coat-pockets as his posture finally relaxed.

Sans was fine. He was a bone-headed idiot who cared far too much, but he was fine.

Still.... Sans had apparently gone to fetch something to make Grillby feel better when he thought the flame was sick. Grillby ran this detail over in his head again, this time with proper attention, and he could physically feel the tempreture in his face spike, the shadows around him growing a bit longer as he burned brightly.

“WELL... MAYBE NOT???” Papyrus was smiling at him, but for some reason it looked nervous. He was wringing his hands. “IT'S... IT'S ALMOST DINNER TIME, SO SANS SHOULDN'T BE GONE MUCH LONGER!!! IN FACT IF YOU'D LIKE, YOU CAN WAIT FOR HIM HERE!!! THAT WAY THIS IS MORE OF AN 'I LIKE YOU SO MUCH I WAITED AROUND TO SEE YOU AGAIN' VISIT!!! AND NOT A 'YOU WEREN'T HOME SO I HAD TO JUST LEAVE' VISIT!! THAT'S... NOT SO BAD, RIGHT??”

Ah. Papyrus had mistaken his blush for annoyance. Grillby was about to reassure him when he paused to think the offer over. So, Sans was merely running an errand and would be home soon. An errand to help Grillby because he thought he was sick, and Sans wanted to do something. And had, by the sounds of it, gone out of his way to help.

Grillby tried his best to suppress his blush brightening, but he failed.

If he left now, Papyrus would tell Sans Grillby was fine when he got home. And all that effort and concern and kindness would have been wasted. He knew Sans; Sans would probably just smile, make a bad joke involving wasted time or medicine, then throw whatever he had gone to get in the trash before going to bed. That all seemed so... anticlimactic. Grillby was more than touched by Sans' worry. A _lot_ more than touched. Not just because Sans broke his years long lazy streak, but also that Sans just... seemed to care. Genuinely care, in a way that, the more Grillby thought about it, the more it struck him.

If Sans was as worried as Papyrus said, he would probably bring the medicine over to the restaurant, check up on Grillby to see how he was doing, and make sure Grillby took whatever it was Sans had brought. It felt... intimate in a way. Or maybe that was the wrong word.

_You know damn well the word you're looking for is 'domestic'._

Grillby shook off his own intrusive thought and focused back on Papyrus who was patiently waiting for an answer.

Grillby gave a nod. _“...Would be happy to show him I am fine, rather than have you relay the message.”_

Papyrus' smile turned genuine and he straightened. “ABSOLUTELY!!! WE COULD EVEN CONGRATULATE HIM TOGETHER ON MAKING SUCH AN EFFORT!!! I HAVE SOME PARTY POPPERS LEFT FROM THE LAST SLUMBER PARTY!!!”

He turned and bounded away before Grillby could ask why you would ever need Party poppers for a slumber party. He shook his head, this time with more humour as he unbottened his coat and hung it by the door.

As he sat down on a chair placed by a small dining table. He pictured Sans again, coming home carrying some or other bag or parcel of medicine, just to make sure Grillby was alright. Because Grillby had said he wasn't sleeping well. Because Sans wanted him to rest and be healthy.

Grillby had to put a hand over his face, trying and failing to contain his flames as his cheeks burned.

 


End file.
